RWBY Grand Order: Rise Of Hunters
by merendinoemiliano
Summary: Almost fifty years ago, at the same time of team STRQ, eight Servants were reborn on Remnant, with three purpose:1) Making a new life for themselves;2) Finding the hidden truths of this world;3) Stop the Grimm once and for all! Now they're the new parents and teachers of the new generations, will they succeed or fail like everyone else?
1. Prologue

Prologue

* * *

It has been a terrible month for Blake Belladonna.

First, her partner, mentor (and crush), Adam Taurus, had turned into a complete psycho when he tried to blown up the SDC train they were raiding and kill the defenseless civilians inside it.

Because she had deserted the White Fang and couldn't contact back to Menagerie without allerting the organisation, the Cat Faunus had then opted to enter Beacon Academy in Vale to avoid being taken back by former associates.

A little hotel on the outskirt of the city offered good prices for a room and thus, having a temporary hideout where to prepare herself for the admission test, she relaxed her guard and focused more on menial things like buying groceries and books.

Blake was eating her dinner, delighted that she had found some good sushi on sales, when she started to feel drowsy.

Stress for the intense study, that was her excuse and she went to bed earlier that night, completely ignoring the shadows already shifting towards her.

Eyes opening in shock at the distinct lack of the warmth from the bed she had started to enjoy in her room, Blake woke up inside a pristine white cell, her clothes put on bags and Aura Limiters bracelets disrupting both the protective effects and her semblance.

Time passed and she noticed the small entrance used to give food opened and a small plate entered this maddening cellroom. A bottle of water and some tuna soothed her panic and fury (mostly the tuna).

Still the lack of Gambol Shroud left her in a very precarious situation as she lacked anything she could use to escape or defend herself from her captors.

It took at least two hours to hear another sign of life as footsteps drew closer to the reinforced door and someone knocked at it.

"Miss Belladonna, we are almost there. I suggest you to start getting yourself decent." The voice felt familiar but she couldn't pinpoint it as it was muffled by the white door.

Blake took the small knife she had been given to use to cut the seafood and prepared herself to jump onto whoever was going to open the door, knock them out, find her weapon and leave this blasted place.

As the entrance grunted showing that it was being opened, the Cat Faunus sprung into action and tried to tackle her captor.

A punch in her guts disrupted her trail of thoughts and she backed away, massaging the hurting part.

Her eyes widened as she recognised the owner of the fist that had pushed her back.

"I am quite surprised that your reaction to meet a familiar face is attacking them." The aggressor smiled as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Yet I think it's fitting with your headbutting personality, little Blake."

In front to the girl was a man, around his forties, very pale, with hair and beard a mix of blond and white and a pair of profound gold eyes which stare seemed to revert her to her childhood.

On his head rested bat ears that showed his faunus heritage, something the man had prided himself when he could.

His dress resembled one of an noble of old times mostly revealed by his black robe with golden decoration that appeared to have been made by a royal tailor.

Her eyes turned away from the stern stare and she noticed two interesting things:  
1) She was in a ship;  
2) Said ship was starting to dock in... Menagerie?

Blake recognised the island she had lived for most of her life.. realisation struck as she remembered to greet the man, whom was patiently waiting for her to speak.

"Hello, uncle Vlad..." Her voice muffled by the embarassing scene she had pulled few moments earlier.

Twenty minutes later, Blake was sitting silently on Vlad's living room in the man's house, as he was preparing some coffee for both of them.

The tension was so dense it could be cut with a knife.

"That little hot-head has finally decided to consume himself to the lust of battle? I admit I'm quite disappointed in Taurus. Good talent gone to waste.." She almost jumped into the air as Vlad appeared silently from the kitchen.

"I-I hoped it would have never happened. T-That it was something Adam wouldn't have turned so fanatical.." The Bat Faunus sipped at his cup, letting the flavour enter his mouth, letting Blake have her time to calm down.

"As far I know, his descend into madness wasn't something recent. You should have noticed that something was passionate about Taurus a long time." Vlad's voice lacked emotions as he merely stated facts to his niece.

The girl sighed, knowing that she should have truly Adam's changes, even small ones.

She was his partner afterall! Why it had to end like this...

The man sighed as he noticed the sorrowful expression on Blake's visage.

"I-It doesn't matter, I'll find another way to make the White Fang return how it was and-Ouch!". Faster than she could notice it, Vlad hit her head with his walking stick and, while he had already took away the Aura Limiters, it still hurted enough to force a point.

" Just like your father. He had good intentions but was more of a dreamer than a realist and ended up alientating our people with his appeasing stance."

"I never understood why you opposed Sienna's radical views. I mean, you founded the Menagerie's army, Uncle."

The White Fang was created many years ago under a more moderate and less dangerous leadership and had, after years of fighting, accomplished the passing of several reforms that eased the lack of rights the Fauni suffered for centuries.

Ghira Belladonna, Blake's father, was the last leader of the White Fang and Chieftain of Menagerie to follow this pacifistic line before being wounded during a strike against the SDC.

Sienna Khan, Ghira's apprentice, was chosen as new leader of the organisation as Blake's father decided he wasn't capable of working with anymore and she pushed for major, brutal changes in the fundaments of the Fang.

At first, the Tiger Faunus gained an outstanding popularity among the Fauni and many of those reforms passed mostly unopposed.

Soon strikes turned violent much easier than before, corrupt SDC leaders started to die at gunpoint and the White Fang was branded as a terroristic group.

"I can appreciate some of their ideas, but I despise how Sienna could be too much trusting in giving so much leeway to her underlings." The Bat Faunus sighed as he took another sip at his cup.

Blake had always revered his Uncle, knowing that his life had always been interesting.

Born in a SDC mine in Atlas, his parents managed to send him to Menagerie. He grew up and studied there until he was seventeen before going to Haven Accademy and becoming one of the first Huntsman coming from the island. Returned to his home, he tried to convince the old Chieftain of the necessity of a regular army or at least a para-military school to prepare the population to defend against the dark creatures that lurked on the desolate area of the island, the Grimm.

The old man was a relic of the Great War and barely grasped the necessity of having an active defensive garrison.

His pleas were deflected every time and then something terrible happened that made the Chieftain at the time retire in shame.

A fleet of pirates arrived on the island during the night , intending to raid the village and selling the survivors to some slave market, but they soon discovered that they had messed up bigly.

When they launched the attack upon Menagerie, Vlad alone opposed their assault, fighting for a whole day without support nor pause, even when the Grimm came, sensing the Faunus' fear. At the dawn of the next day, all the inhabitants exit from their house to find a pile of bloody corpses, mangled and cut to pieces, and a barely awake Vlad, suffering from Aura exhaustion, holding tightly on his black lance.

That day resulted in two major things that changed Menagerie's way of life.

The first was Vlad's reputation grew infamously and he was considered one of the best lancers in Remnant for his capacity to not only hold back the attack but retaliate with incredible brutality.

The second was that in a matter of days several men and women took part into his initiative, creating a force more than capable of defending the island from bandits and Grimm.

What truly shocked many was the fact he was still an active Huntsman that worked in dangerous mission, saying that he wished to save up money to give Menagerie a CCT Tower and an Huntsman academy to the village, increase its size in a matter of years.

"Do my parents already know I'm here?" Asked the Cat Faunus, knowing that the conversation was going nowhere.

The man shrugged his shoulders. "I knew you left from my spies in the Fang, but I didn't want to worry them, especially considering you're going to study at Beacon."

Blake sighed once more, her worries lessened in her mind and she finally took a sip from her coffee yet she knew very well that Vlad, while being a good friend of her parents and an honorary uncle to her, would never do anything without a major reason.

"Thank you, Uncle. I think I am still not ready to face them anytime soon and... there is something you want from me, right?". On the bat faunus' face appeared a satisfied smile and in a quick movement that Blake barely felt, the bow on her head disappeared, revealing her cat ears.

"I just ask from you that you to go to Beacon like yourself, a Faunus, and maybe keep an eye on Weiss Schnee."

Not many knew this story but.. there was a time where the youngest children of Jacques Schnee, leader of the Schnee Dust Company, were kidnapped by a rogue military squadron. At the time Vlad was on duty for some mission and he ended up saving the heiress, his little brother and the Huntsman tutoring the girl.

It's still unknown why her uncle was so much familiar with the Schnee heiress but he had just shrugged away all the theories regarding it.

"I'll try to be in her team, but I cannot guarantee anything." finished Blake, dreaded at the simple idea of having to be the spoiled brat's teammember.

* * *

"You need to have your guard closer, Weiss!" The firm order barked by the armored instructor shook the Schnee Heiress out of her tiredness .

The mansion's training room and its white and blue theme were starting to become more and more despised by Weiss as it's been hours that she had been trying to land some hits on her teacher but until now she had but failed in the intent.

Myrtenaster danced with grace and precision but any attack was either deflected or easily blocked by her mentor, Lancelot Du Lac.

A man tall almost two meters with short violet hairs, Lancelot wore a white armor with a black suit underneath, a scarf around his neck and the infamous golden sword with runes constantly moving in to defend his master.

The white haired girl's sword attempted to pierce the elusive and seemingly invulnerable knight but his closeness and his sharp reaction senses incapacitated her aim and her ability to create glyphs.

Thankfully the knight eased his aggressive stance and let Weiss form the well-known snowflake symbol.

This became red and fireballs flew quickly against the Huntsman, each of them swiftly countered with precise hits that voided them before reaching their target.

With a mighty strike, Lancelot slammed his blade upon Myrtenaster and pushed the girl towards the wall, breaking her aura and finishing the spar.

"You improved a lot in so much little, young Weiss." A glint of pride hiding in the quiet and reserved tone of the teacher, letting some of the dread coming of the defeat lessen at the words.

The heiress got up and brushed the dust off her vest, resting few moments for her Aura to recover and then bowed respectfully to her teacher, who alongside her sister and her butler was the only person so far she truly come to appreciate as a friend.

"In the end you trained me, Sir Lancelot. You are the responsible of my current advancement." The knight returned the bow and gave her a small smile at her humbleness.

"Nonsense, young lady. You came up so far with your own hard work and what you consider my talents, well, those are just ways to help you grow up. It was you that convinced someone like Whitley to start and train, I remind you." He concluded with one of his very rare laughs, one which Weiss shared with him.

Before the attempted kidnapping, Whitley Schnee had been a spoiled brat with very little comprehension of Remnant and how dangerous the world was.

It took some pep talks and the kidnapping to prove him how he was wrong regarding his safety, until now deemed nigh-unbreachable.

Still a spoiled brat, Whitley started to actually see how being more practical and more capable of defending himself on his own benefitted him more than just depending on protection given by just money.

"There is still one thing you have yet to tell me, Weiss. Why do you wish to go to Beacon and not study at Atlas?" Lancelot's concern brought a blank expression in the young heiress' visage, one the knight couldn't understand .

She had a family and had the chance to have everything she wanted in the name of good, but she seemed so much saddened and lonely most of the time.

That was one of the greatest questions in the teacher's mind that not even his experiences could help to explain.

"It's a must for me. I want to affirm myself, Weiss Schnee, more as a person, not only as heiress to the most powerful and corrupted company on the planet.", Lancelot smiled.

"This is good objective in life but remember you can't do something this ambitious all alone. Find good, trustworthy teammates and show them whom you truly are." The girl nodded and, after shaking his hand, the the two exit from the gym.

They both smiled, knowing they could trust the other to the point of telling each other their respective secrets.

* * *

In another zone of Atlas, inside a research facility , a woman was resting on her desk after a long day of working.

A majestic beauty, pretty tall, prosperous, with lilac hair and pointed ears.

Someone could have thought of her being a a faunus, but it was just a simple birth defect that had more than once caused some interesting accidents along her life.

She felt an hand touching her shoulders and stretched as she turned to see whom was disturbing her slumber.

Her blue eyes landed on a brown haired teenager, dressed as a soldier and with two fangs coming from his mouth.

"Souchiro, is everything alright?" The woman yawned as she tried to wake up fully from her nap as she asked her son.

The boy rolled his eyes at her calm.

Soichiro had been adopted almost 13 years earlier by Medea Seaspel, one of Atlas' best scientist regarding Dust and Aura Experimentation and incredibly powerful Huntress, whom talents were easily shadowed by her antics.

" I'm fine, mom, but I remember asking you to not work all night. You barely caught some sleep this week."

"But I work so hard so you can have a future, dear." As the scientist gave a small kiss on the teen's head, Souchiro huffed in annoyance at her babying him once more.

The door of the lab opened once more, this time revealing an old friend of the small family entering the room, a dark skinned man with few white hair sitting on a four legged robot.

Pietro Polendina, Robotics expert and another very famous scientist in Atlas, had been working with Medea a joint experiment funded by the military.

"Medea? We're almost finished and we are waiting for you to finish the test." The woman nodded as she got up from her chair, straightening her coat.

"Then led us, Pietro. It's finally time to give the girl the possibility to feel more of the real world. Plus, I think Soichiro here would like to finally have a normal conversation with Penny."

"It would be interesting." The snake faunus commented, a small but genuine smile hanging from his mouth.

The trio went to an hidden section of the structre, where many scientists worked on several machines.

The results of everyone's work was the massive and complex computer connected to a single capsule, this one containing inside a girl-like model ready for the AI to use.

Medea went closer to the computer and reached for the microphone, speaking to Penny.

"Penny, we are about to start the test, are you ready?" She received her answer by a female voice with a static edge coming right from the computer.

"I'm 100% ready, professor Seaspell!"

"Very well. Doctor Polendina, you might start the program."

The fellow scientist nodded and activated the machine connected by wires to the capsule. Said wires glowed green and electricity of the same color danced around it and into the android's empty body.

"Energy's at maximum charge." Medea affirmed as the screen in front of her monitored the experiment.

Yet sparkles flared from the machine and the light softened a bit, causing Geppetto to sigh in frustration.

"Amplifying the energy input up to 130% should stabilise the process." The man didn't want to see once more the project of a lifetime go to waste and deemed necessary once more to not give up so easily on the project.

Surprisingly enough the energy started to slowly reduce and an hiss filled the room.

The capsule opened and the girl inside, now much more lively than before, started to look at her hand and her appearance in awe.

She had a pale pink complexion with some freckles on her cheeks. A light red hair and brilliant green eyes shined with curiosity ad what she was seeing

She was wearing something similar to a black swimsuit with a green accension symbol glowing in her back.

Pietro and Medea rushed immediatly towards her and started to check her vitals, energy input and output.

"Penny, can you tell us how do you feel? Do you notice memory loss, weakness on the limbs or anything else?" Asked Medea aiming a little flashlight into the girl's eye and receveing a smile as answer.

"I actually feel great, Miss Medea, I can't wait to start fightning." Her voice chirpier than usual but as she tried to get up she fell on the floor with a sheepish expression plastered on her face.

"Calm down there, Penny, you must still be used to having a body and run some diagnostics before you can even think of doing dangerous things."

* * *

In the deserts of Vacuo, a company of soldiers was celebrating after a long day of killing Grimm on the territory.

Other than them, were present also various scientist and locals, all different between each other, but all under the command of the same leader, whom in that moment was in his own tent, making a report regarding his last campaign, before unite to his men.

He was a man taller than two meters, very bulky, with bronze colored skin and red spiky hair, other than a red beard, dressed for now just with military pants, showing a physique built with years of training.

"Commander, Scouts report seeing an huge pack of Grimm coming towards us and many of our men are too tired or wounded to fight. What should we do?" A soldier entered the tent in haste, clearly shaken by the news himself.

A simple rookie to the company, so he was still unaware how exactly they worked, if not thanks to some stories.

The man laughed and exit from the tent after taking an armor.

"Tell the medic to hurry in fixing our mens and find who is still capable of fighting. I'll buy some time while the troops ready. The big bitch probably thinks to destroy us, but I'll show her how much she is underestimating us."

"B-But, commander... are you sure?" Exclaimed the soldier, shocked by the simple plan the grinning man had told him.

The general, Iskandar Scarlatina, was famous as one of the most dangerous Huntsman in history both for his individual strenght and the way he worked.

He had raduned a company of mercenaries, scientists and many others to unemployed people to reconquer many territories that had fallen to the Grimm or to bandits of the worst kind. The inhabitants of the conquered territories considered him a king, even more important than the Councils, and called him 'the Conqueror'.

Said warrior, after putting his armor back, saw a call on his scroll and answered, finding on the screen a girl with long brown hair, eyes of the same color and rabbit ears.

" Hi dad. Is everything alright there?".

"Velvet, my little princess. Everything is amazing! How are you?"

"Doing great, dad. My team just returned from our first mission alone and we were celebrating with mom. She misses you a lot. Also, when you're thinking to return home?"

The general laughed, happy that his baby girl was growing a backbone thanks to her teammates if her bossy tone meant something.

"Don't worry, sweetie. Another week to heal the earth and destroy the last Grimms, then we will all return home. I'll be there before you could say Okeanos. Sorry, but I've to leave you now as a pack of monsters is going to attack us. Give your mother a kiss on my behalf."

"I'll do. Love you, dad, and please don't hurt yourself too much." The man said a small goodbye to his daughter and walked towards the chariot led by two heavy armed oxen. He took a sword, two bazookas, some packs of Dust and parted with the vehicle, going against the approaching horde of Grimms that were on the point of attacking the encampment.

" C'MON AND TRY TO TAKE ME! ISKANDAR, THE KING OF CONQUERORS, IS HERE FOR YOU!"

* * *

Not so far by the battle between Iskandar and the monsters, outside the terrible sandstorm created by it, a warrior observed the ensuing battle in silence.

Covered by an armor black as the night with a skull mask and horns alongside similar decorations on knees, gomits and chest.

He was tall and mighty almost as the Conqueror and certainly he emanated the same aura of power and authority.

The only visible element of his visage were his cold blue eyes, which were emitting a strange light, while on his back the're was a great sword big almost as him.

"So, gramps, we're gonna give him an hand?"

The one to ask was a boy seventeen years old dressed with a purple kimono, a silver mantle, fingerless black gloves, sandals and a berret from which appearead two black wolf ears.

He had short hair of the same colour, brown eyes and a bulky frame, trough not exaggerately fat. On his back the're were two tonfas.

"I don't think he needs help, but I agree with Emil." Another voice piped in.

He had the same age of the first, but had a darker color skin, blue eyes, messy blond hair and a monkey tail. He was dressed with jeans, an unbottoned white shirt, gym shoes and kept a golden and red staff in his hand.

"Sun, Emil, I thought I had already taught you the virtue of patience. I called you here to give the instructions for the next months and Iskander's presence is only a coincidence. Did you understand everything I just said?"

"Yes" Muttered the wolf faunus in annoyance. "I must go to Atlas and partner up with Souchiro Seaspell. I just hope he won't be a spoiled brat."

"And I have to go back to Haven to check the Headmaster." Concluded Sun.

Despite the bored tone, both were determined to don't disappoint their boss and teacher, the great King Hassan, the most dangerous assassin in all of Remnant.

He was famous for his deadliness, stealth skill and most on all for the capacity to be able to choose how to deal with a target.

" Very well, be sure to don't disappoint me..." The two faunus nodded and disappeared between the sands.

The older warrior returned to observe the battle, apparently unaware of three Beowolfs that were approaching him.

But before those abominations could attempt to attack him from behind, they

were hit by some blue flame, while Hassan appeared behind the remaining with his sword unsheated. When he took it back on his sheath, the wolfs transformed into particles of black dust, taken away from the wind.

"...or you will disappoint the entire world."

* * *

"Sis, please, don't go!", yelled a six year old boy with two mantis antles to the older girl in front of him.

Red hair, green eyes and dressed with a golden armor, she was busy take a bag into the bullhead when the child had approached her.

The teen took the boy into her arms and pulled him in an embrace.

"I'm sorry, Buzz, but I've to go to Vale. Still, I promise you that when I'll return I will be ready to defend everyone and I will teach you the same I studied."

Pyrrha Nikos, winner for four times in a row of the Mistral Junior Tournaument, best student of Sanctum and future Huntress in training of Beacon patted the head of the child.

She was also one of the various orphans at the Nikos Orphanage, owed by Atlanta Nikos, cousin to Haven's Headmaster.

It was in fact for the institute's issues that Pyrrha had started to compete in the tournaments as those gave large sum of money to the winner and guaranteed a stable income to the orphanage.

Trough chances of getting more experience from opponents were slim as the main competitors were mostly children of rich people that barely knew how to fight decently.

Also she was a complete klutz when trying to befriend people.

The first few times she tried to make friendly banter, it was immediately mistaken an arrogant move toward her competition.

"Pyrrha, c'mon, the Bullhead will leave in few minutes!"

The feminine voice called out from the bullhead and the young woman sighed.

"I'm coming, mom!"

Pyrrha patted the child one last time as she paced towards the bullhead.

Her mother, Atlanta Nikos, was an Huntress and founder of the orphanage that had taken care of her for most of her life.

A tall lion faunus with blond hair by green tint , she was wearing a combat dress with a short skirt and black elbows and knees protections.

"You got everything, Pyrrha? Any issue you wish to voice before going?"

"I'm fine but I'm don't feel good knowing that I will have to leave everyone behind. Still, I'm confident in finding some friends in Beacon!."

Atlanta couldn't not notice the same fake confident smile her daughter had started using few years ago when she was trying to hide her insecurities from everyone.

"Pyrrha..." The woman started, trying to coax her to relax herself as she knew she was way too nervous.

The redhead hummed annoyed and, checking that no one was looking at them, she sighed and her smile turned into a small sad line.

"Okay... I'm afraid that I might not befriend anyone at the school. My reputation as a champion had already hindered past attempts and I will go mad if it happens once more. I'm so tired of being what they want to see me!" As she ranted, few tears started to form in eyes.

Atlanta sighed, giving her a grave and tired look as she softened her usual stern stance for a moment.

"I told you to stop after you second victory, before it was too late. That I could think myself how to get the money to deal with the costs."

"How so?" Pyrrha yelled angrily at her caretaker. "We all needed you to do more but no! As I got old enough, I had to work hard to gain the results I have now! At least I had not resorted to- **to that!** " She concluded pointing at some woman in a near alley that were trying to sell their 'services' to the passing men.

" I would rip off my ears before I could allow such thing to happen to any of you."

Atlanta's voice was soft but the young Nikos feel it crack a little, showing her regret.

"But the damage is done now and no words will be able to wash away my terrible behavior. I-I'm sure you will find a way fix your life soon. You've grown into a beautiful girl with a lovely kindness that appeal to everyone." She paused, giving her daughter a proud smile.

"And you are my daughter. I know you will have nothing to be afraid at Beacon."

The lioness hugged her cub uncaring if people saw their moment. Pyrrha enjoyed the warm embrace and put her head on Atlanta's shoulder.

"Thank you, mom. I will always love you."

* * *

"C'mon, Jaune, keep your guard higher. And be quicker!"

"Maybe you need to go slower, dad!"

Those who were yelling each other were two men dueling with swords in the training ground sited near the household were the Arc family lived.

The older one had a crocodile tail, white hair coming to the shoulders, tanned skin and a black armour with silver protections,

The man had his black sword moving in his hand while two others were still holstered in their sheaths.

The other one was a seventeen years old boy, his face similar to his opponent's with a paler complexion, blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing jeans with protection on the knees, shoulders armor, iron gloves and an armored plate covering his chest, everything in white with golden lines on its borders.

On his hands were a longsword he had build few year ago and a white and golden shield , the symbol of two crescent moons painted on it, secretly holding another sword, this one from his grandfather and that could be also used to sheath his custom blade.

The two continued to exchange hits against each other for several minutes, throwing attacks and blocking the ones directed towards them.

The battle arrived to an end when a woman came from the path of their home, interrupting the fight with just her presence.

She had a astonishing body body and dressed with a black dress, steel protections covering her stomach.

Finally a little crown sat on her messy and blond hair, pretty short to don't obstacle her during her fights..

What truly halted the spar was actually the inviting cake she was holding in her arms.

"My two favorite Huntsmen want to eat something sweet before leaving? You cannot leave for Beacon with an empty belly." The two stopped their swords into midair, before sheating them and going towards the woman.

Jeanne Arc, matron of the large Arc family, was already there to spoil her family with her good treats and kindness.

"Honey, you spoil us so much." Siegfried Asgard, leader of Ansel's townguard, whined softly as he took a silently eyed the delicious cake.

The boy nodded, the teen much more resilient than his old man.

He gave her a smug smile, eyes closed.

"In fact, mom. I'm not a kid anymore and I don't need to accept everything you order me to do-!" A slap echoed in the clearing as the blonde had one of his hands nursing his now-red cheek, staring at the woman submitted to her will.

"Your mother knows best, little Jaune." The firm tone in her statement sent shivers to the two men's backs.

One thing that angered the woman the most was when she was dealing with the rebelliousness in her children's behavior.

She had accepted to have Jaune training to be capable of defending himself from the dangers of Remnant but she wouldn't renounce to spoil and cuddle her children not even if it could cause the end of the world.

"Let's see if you will continue to baby me after I finished at Beacon. My team will be the best in the Academy's history and I will have a girlfriend!"

"Do you think you will get to become a leader too?" The joke coming from his father actually made Jaune pale at that situation, knowing that he was not good in leading people.

"Absolutely no. There are responsibilities I might accept if forced upon me but I'm happy with just obeying orders and destroying everything with Moonblanc."

"And take Crocea Mors with you. you can never know if you could lose Moonblanc and have to deal with foes in that circumstance." Her overprotectiveness irked the young Arc as he didn't like being babied so much.

"But it's so ancient and I bet it could only be used just as a relic in some museum. It is useful for training and for self defence, but all my schoolmates will have things much more effective than it." The hard glare from his mother silenced any other detail he would have added about the blade.

The woman had always been quite attached to the sword but she never explained why so.

"Trust me, Jaune, this sword might be old but it has so much potential for you to discover and use it to become great."

The young knight nodded, through he still wasn't that convinced about her mysterious words.

"Give some faith to your mother. Now let's go, the Bullhead will leave in a few minutes." Siegfried's statement got the two blondes to nod and the three took their car and went to the airport, where Siegfried and Jaune told their goodbyes in tears, both emotional in that moment.

Jeanne smiled, a bit of worry still within her mind but she knew that her son wished to prove himself by becoming an Huntsman and she was not going to oppose her baby boy's dream.

As the airship disappeared from the view, Sieg looked back to his wife and his eyes landed on hers.

"He will be fine... don't worry so much...", Jeanne cleaned her nose with an handkerchief but still was saddened by her son's going away.

"I know but.. Sieg?".

" Yes, dear?"

"I love you."

"I love you too." Their lips touched, uncaring of the crowd around them and, while some looked disapproving of the public act, they decided to not voice their disgruntlement, leaving the couple to enjoy this little moment together.

* * *

While the Huntsman and Huntress prepared their students and/or childrens to their own future, in a place almost never touched by man, an ancient and dark creature was doing its best to spread its influence around the continents and watched the changes of this new reality take form in front of its eyes.

" Do your best, fourth rate servant, but in the end I will destroy everything you have tried to build."

Hello, guys, this is my first story on the english site, i hope you will enjoy it. My intention is to merge a lot Fate and RWBY's lore, correcting some parts of this last one, especially on the last two volumes. Every critique and review is apprecciated, by the way i want to thanks my beta,SocialistBukharin. Good Halloween( and good birthday to my waifu, lil' Ruby Rose), see you soon.


	2. Chapter 2:The shining Beacon

"Oh, I'm so proud of you!"

The many students aboard the Airship directed to Beacon were watching this very weird spectacle in silence as the very scene was as intriguing as annoying.

A long-haired blonde girl was hugging a slightly younger girl with dark hair with red tips. Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose, half-sisters and Huntresses-in-training, were already showing their closeness and lack of formality in this important place.

Yet there was some sense in the brawler's affection as she was happy HOW the young Rose had managed to get in Beacon two years earlier than normal students.

During what should have been a simple stop by the Dust till Dawn shop to get some new weapon magazines, Ruby had assisted an Huntress in capturing Roman Torchwick and almost succeding in that.

While that enthusiasm was understandable for many...

"Yang, please, leave me."

..Ruby didn't like being singled out for her unique actions.

She just wanted to be a normal Huntress after all, not a celebrity nor a glory-hound.

"C'mon, everyone will think you're incredible." Yang's words highlighted once more the impressive stunt she had accomplished in a simple errand and, after hearing the same words over and over, Ruby decided to let her thoughts expressed, hoping for her big sister to catch what she truly wanted.

"But I don't want to be incredible." She sighed in the embrace, feeling once more like a little girl.

"I-I just want to be a normal girl studying in a 'normal' school." Her plight was understandeable by looking back at her experience at Signal.

The small circle of aquaintaces that she had formed recently in Patch was mostly made by the outcasts of the school and those never actually felt like true friends.

That's why her small, secret hope in this new school is to truly be part of a real group of friends.

"But you're incredible, you're my little sister." Her big sister pushed more encouragements in their short hug, as if trying to coax her to socialise and try to get friends on her own.

It wasn't wrong, Ruby conceded in her displeasure regarding being thrown onto this predicament, it would help her creating bonds without being called **Yang's little sister**.

Still she didn't felt at ease by the fact she was going there and wing any possibility to have her truly, first friend.

She was going to fail, she felt it, **she knew it!**

Ruby huffed, unwilling to rant in the still good mood she was, and her gaze went to the news displayed on a near holographic television.

Seems like the deed she had been part of regarding Torchwick's attempted capture was still mentioned even a week after the whole fiasco and... White Fang with their messing up the peaceful parts

"But they will never learn?" Yang had already detached from her and Ruby took the opportunity to muse about this whole Fauni' revolts.

"I know." A young man with blond hair and blue eyes stared at the same screen, not even glancing at her as his stare was fixed on the members of the terrorist cell disrupting the whole manifestation.

"Few months ago they tried to attack my village because my father didn't accept joining them and so tried to retaliate at the slight."

"Yet they were much more pacific years ago. I remember my dad telling me about how calm those protests once were.." Ruby sighed once more, eyes closed as she thought about Uncle Qrow's words regarding her future.

 _"While you are more ready to take on Grimms, kiddo, you are far from being a full-fledged Huntress. You will find yourself dealing with some confusing situations where you might have to use violence on fellow sentient beings. So... never give up and keep your ideals even after those."_

Confusing words, words that innocent Ruby Rose couldn't understand properly but nonetheless decided to take in her heart.

The blonde finally turned to look at her, a small smile in his unblemished face and Ruby felt smiling herself at the radiant happiness from the young man.

He was about to speak once more but he froze mid-sentence, a green hue spreading in his face as he excused himself to reach the nearest bathroom.

The short reaper flinched as she heard a familiar sound coming from that room but decided to distract herself looking at the view she had from her position in the airship.

"Sorry... motion sickness is a true pain in this cases."

His mortified expression gave more reasoning behind his sudden sickness and Ruby would have replied with a simple "Don't worry, it's alright." but she wanted to test something in this new curious boy.

"I heard it was a common issue but... it's nice to meet you, Vomit boy." Her attempted joke seemed to trigger a small annoyed reaction from the blonde, whom groaned and facepalmed at her.

"Oh, c'mon. Again?" As those words left his lips, the airship finally landed and the students started to move towards the closest exits.

"Rubes, I saw some of my friends from Signal and.. I NEED TO GO, BYE!" Yang ran out from the two, leaving both to stare in silence at the yellow missile rushing towards a group of people.

As they finally left the Airship, Ruby was mesmerized by the beauty of Beacon, truly a masterpiece compared to Signal.

Sure, all the Academies had equal importance and shared unique appearances but... it was still cool to see it with her own eyes.

Ruby realised that the young blonde was too pausing before the vast compound and she smiled.

"Before I forget, my name is Ruby Rose."

Cerulean eyes slowly turned to her and he smiled.

"Jaune Arc.. nice too meet you, Ruby."

The Rose felt that something was missing from the presentation, yet.. she ignored it, considering it just some shyness from the teen.

Silence fell between the two as they finally started to walk toward the entrance and Ruby felt like she had made a mistake in this interaction.

Panic surged in her mind and she opted to move the discussion onto something she know the most.

"A-Anyway, I made her."

She released Crescent Rose's scythe mode for a wide-eyed Jaune to gaze in surprise and awe.

"Holy Fudge! You are telling me you made this?!"

She giggled at the avoided swear word and her mood lifted as she now knew she had done right to change subject.

"She's my Crescent Rose, my little baby. A wonderful scythe mixed with an high impact rifle." She hugged her weapon protectively to emphasize her point, drinking on the positively stunned Arc.

"W-Wait! That means... it is also a rifle, right?"

Pleasant surprise washed upon her as she found the funny guy more and more intriguing as they continued to chat.

"A sniper rifle, yes." The scythe was stored away once more as she clarified Jaune's answer.

"I-I'm not much of a gun specialist but dad taught me the basics."

Silver eyes stared wide open as the curious 'friend' that Jaune revealed.

"This is Moonblanc, a shotgun united with a longsword. And I also have this."

The shield in his hand seemed to expand as another sword, this time a normal one, left the shield-scabbard.

Ruby's finger touched its cold steel, wondering about the material used to make this unique, old blade.

"This is certainly older than the first weapon yet... at the same time it feels like it was made quite recently. How old is it?".

Jaune scratched the back of his head as he stared calmly at Crocea Mors.

"It was made by my grandfather slightly before the Great War and now it is the most important heirloom of the Arc family. Gramps fought-" A loud explosion took Ruby's and Jaune's attention as they both stared at the rising pile of smoke.

"What was that?!" Her mind panicking at the only one capable of ending in those situations, Ruby rushed towards the origin of the blast, Jaune following closely.

Finally, as the smoke started to dissipate, they both saw a familiar brawler heatedly speaking to the white-haired, blue-eyed girl in front of her.

"I don't know what is your game, princess, but is this the way to show how to NOT handle dust?" Her growing anger was met by the furious unknown girl as she replied with a similar tone.

"I am sure it was you who caused all of this. By crashing onto that crate you literally turned every vial of Dust in a dangerous hazard that I will have to fix, one by one!"

"She is actually an heiress." The two angry, young women turned to the find another girl, this one with long black hairs, yellow eyes and a pair of cat ears on her head.

"Finally, some recognition!" Sadly for the white-haired girl, Ruby saw the small amused smile forming on the intruding Faunus.

"Yes. Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. The company mostly known for its questionable business partners and blatant disrespect of workers' rights."

The smug smile on Weiss' face disappeared, now replaced by a simple scowl.

" Sadly these aren't baseless accusations, but I hope you understand that I'm just the heiress and only when I will be the owner of the SDC I will be able to get rid of certain elements i don't want anymore to bother all of Remnant."

Her answer seemed to surprise the Cat Faunus, whom merely nodded at the serious moment the Schnee just gave her in that reply. Some hours later, after the Headmaster's speech, all the students were in the dance hall, preparing for sleeping.

"Ah yeah! It's like a big slumber party." Ruby groaned at Yang's comment as she continued to write this difficult letter to the group back in Signal.

"I'm not sure dad would apprecciate all these boys." Taiyang Xiao Long would have destroyed Beacon with his bare hands if he discovered one of her daughters being even courted by someone at the school.

"I do for sure."

Yang purred at some teens waving at her bare-chested, then her eyes noticed Jaune... with a rabbit-themed pajama.

" Seriously?", commented the blonde. Ok, she could see the guy definitly put a lot of effort into his training and wasn't bad looking at all, but this was still a school of killers. Ruby, annoyed, noticed whath she said and gave her a little hit on the back.

"I-I better return to my letter." To her dismay, Yang actually heard her stutter and turned to look at her.

"Are you writing to the Signal's gang?"

Her panic subdued as the blonde brawler had not noticed her curious discovery.

"I-I promised them and it kind of sucks that I don't know no one here outside of you."

"Well, there is Jaune."

 _Yeah, there is Jaune-!_ Silver eyes darted into the amused lilac ones of the older girl.

"I think you had a funny encounter and explosion."

"True! But there are so many friendly people here- Hey, isn't that the girl from before?"

Her finger pointed at the black-haired Faunus sitting close to one of the walls, dressed in a small kimono and reading a black book.

" Yeah but- don't..." Too litte, too late as the blonde went immediately toward Blake, pulling Ruby with her.

"I still have to thank you for helping out earlier, name's Yang Xiao Long." The girl looked away from her interest, glancing first at Yang, then at Ruby.

The silver-eyed teen nodded in empathy in that moment and was surprised as the Faunus nodded back at her, a mutual understanding starting to form.

"You're welcome, it was a pleasure." The Faunus' answer lacked any interest in continuing talking, yet the , clearly not interested into a conversation.

" So, whath's your name? I think it would be courtesy if you presented yourself."

" Blake Belladonna." The curt presentation didn't deter the blond girl from continuing to find a way to chat with the Belladonna.

"You know, you have really cute cat ears, it goes greatly with your... pajama." At this point, even Ruby understood how much desperate her sister was sounding and she could see how much Blake was creeped out by that comment.

" Tomorrow is going to be a tiring day... can we please go to sleep early?"

The Xiao Long seemed confused at that moment, her reputation of big sister and the curiousity regarding the Faunus clashing briefly in her mind.

Then she sighed. "Fine. But you are going to socialise with someone tomorrow."

Ruby nodded and, while the two started to walk back to their sleepbags, the Rose glanced back seeing Blake smiling a bit and mouthing two words.

 _Thank you._

"WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!" Once Lie Ren heard that there were only two certain things in life and those were taxes and death. By firsthand experience, the mistralian boy knew that there was a third, secret thing in that ancient words.

That was Nora Valkirye's bubbly cheerfulness.

As his pink eyes opened at the sight of the familiar light-blue ones of his childhood friend, Nora giggled and jumped around repeating **It's morning** to their proximity, drawing no little annoyance from other students.

"You know, I still can't believe we have been at Beacon for more than twentyfour hours. Not that I thought that they would kick us out, but I mean, you're the perfect student and I'm me."

Lie slowly started to fold back his sleepbag and Nora's, seemingly deaf to the girl's chatty mood.

"But it is crazy, you know. We're friends by so long. How much is probable we're still together? Well, not _together together_ , not thath you aren't awesome- You're awesome, but wouldn't it be a little... weird?"

The two walked towards the cafeteria, ordering some pancakes for Nora while Ren picked a simple green tea.

"Right!- what I was saying?" She devoured few pancakes, then continued once more. "Anyway, I hope we all end in a team together. Umh, we should make a plan. What do you think of corrupting the Headmaster? Nah, it wouldn't work, he already has a school."

Finally they reached the armory to pick up their equipment and Lie holstered his StormFlower(s) back in their sheats. Magnhild easily stored down for Nora to hid in one of her pockets.

"Oh, what do you think of a secret signal? Can you imitate a sloth?"

Ren paused, the gears in his mind calmly studying his partner's words.

"Nora?"

The Valkirye ceased her rant, turning her full attention to her best friend.

"Yes, Ren."

The boy blinked, realisation hitting him.

"I don't think sloths make noise."

...

"That's why it is perfect! Nobody will suspect we're working together."

The cheerful reply was so loud that both Weiss and Pyrrha heard that.

The two girls met a few years earlier in Mistral, slightly before the amazon's second victory and genuine respect had grown towards each other after several spars together.

So, Pyrrha, would you like to form a team together? I'm sure we'll be great together."

Weiss Schnee's plan was easy: have Pyrrha in her team, become a Huntress in record time and make Winter, Klein and Lancelot proud. It was foolproof!

"Thank you, Weiss, but at least for some time I need to stay out from the high spot. I think I will go for someone with a lower profile."

Weiss nodded, understanding and respecting the red-haired girl's wishes, but didn't give up, still thinking of someone very strong she could have as a partner. She heard Ruby skipped two years at Signal, and while it wasn't an event unheard of, it was still a proof of her possible, high-level skills.

"Uhh, sorry I.. I have to take my weapons from that locker." Jaune's morning had started with him searching the place he had left Moonblanc and Crocea Mors, completely forgetting the number of that locker.

Thankfully Miss Goodwitch had directed him to where his stuff had been placed.

"You're welcome." Showing politeness at the request, Pyrrha gave space for the boy to access to the locker. "By the way... do we know each other? You remind me of someone..."

Jaune pausing, the gears in his mind rolling furiously as to see what this red-haired girl was talking about.

Then he realised whom was in front of him.

"Wait, aren't you Auntie Atalanta's daughter, Pyrrha right?"

Hearing her mother's name with the familiar title, Pyrrha's emeralds sparkled in understanding and she smiled.

"Oh, now I remember you! You're Sieg's and Jeanne's son. They showed me a photo of your, when they visited."

"Yeah, it was around the time I started training with the city's militia. My dad was showing image of me to all his friends."

"Wait! This blond dolt knows Mistral's junior tournament champion?" In Weiss' mind, that whole situation was as surreal as shocking to hear.

"Well, it's just through our parents. And champion, really? Honestly I'm not that much into watching those competitions- The Arc sighed as he remembered how disappointing some videos were as he saw them during his childhood-Even dad thinks that only the Vytal Festival Tournament is the one with some serious fighters, while others are just faux fights with not many Huntsman-level competitors."

Pyrrha's smile widened, finding this topic quite interesting to hear from someone her age.

She knew how much rare was to find someone as well-learnt about the dull challenges of the tournaments she had fought.

"I agree, I partook in those just for the rewards. I lost too much precious time I could have invested in training for Beacon."

"You have four years to regain the time that was lost, Pyrrha, now let's go, I think the headmaster is talking.", commented Weiss.

The white haired girl was indeed correct as Ozpin started to led the group of new students towards the cliff facing the Emerald Forest.

As the group stopped, the white-haired headmaster started a short speech.

"For years you trained to become warrior and today your skills will be tested into the forest."

He observed with attention all the students, all of them standing over the launching pods.

"During this test, you will meet the companions you will teamup for the next four years. You must go toward the temple in the forest and retrieve a relic. That being said, the first person you will make eye contact with will be your partner for all your time at Beacon."

While certain students were disheartened by the fact that they would make teams with those they knew and could trust, now everyone was stunned by the 'partner' rule.

"Now, in position." All the teenagers assumed a combat position and, one by one, were launched into the air at an incredibly high speed, being coaxed to use their own 'landing strategy' and avoid any fatal deaths.

"BIRDY NO!"

Mid-air, Ruby could barely move around and a poor crow was intercepted by the rapidly descending Rose.

Going over that small moment of grieving, Ruby used a sniper shot from Crescent Rose to boost her speed for the landing, using her Semblance just as she touched the ground to use the renewed speed to null the impact, allowing her to optimize the conserved speed.

Blake used her clones to recover balance, just enough for Gamboul Shroud to precisely reach the closest tree and halt her fall.

Weiss used her glyphs as platforms, while Yang simply used her Ember Celica as propulsor to continue her flight for a little longer as she landed unharmed thanks to her aura.

"Nailed it!"

Jaune wasn't as lucky, since his swords didn't offer much for him to soften his landing.

Sure, he had enough Aura to tank the whole situation but that would leave him with low reserves.

Now the blonde undestood why his parents had called Ozpin a madman.

Preparing himself for the crash the teen charged a large amount of aura into his shield, creating a sturdy pillow that helped him not to die in that predicament.

Ren used his pistols to attach himself at a tree and roll down to the floor and Nora kept flying shooting granades.

Finally Pyrrha used her shield to smash few trees, slowing down her speed for her to safely land on one of the surviving tree's branches.

As every students one way or another survived the landing, they all started searching for whom they wanted as partners-

"Gotta find Yang! Gotta find Yang! Gotta find Yang!" Whispering her small wish, Ruby also thought of the other possibilities.

Jaune was nice and pretty good, but she was wanted to have at least one friend outside her team.

Weiss kinda snobbish, but overall nice and apparently strong, then...

The short reaper stopped her mad run, looking at her new partner.

" Blake?!"

The faunus' cat ears twitched at her name being called out and she turned around with a small smile.

"Ruby. Already found someone?"

The Rose shook her head and shrugged.

"Guess we're partners." That cheerful moment was interrupted by several growls coming from the bushes around them, forcing them to return on their guard.

"Let's go!" Her scythe mercilessly cut down one of the Beowulfs' leg , then the teen dodged the dark claw trying to sneakily attack her from behind and countered with a shot from Crescent Rose' rifle mode.

Her semblance activated and allowed her to quickly tear down through the Grimm's small force.

Gambol Shroud fiercely followed in the execution of the creatures, never deluding its owner of its impressive capacity in easily butchering Grimm.

As the Beowulfs' corpses started to decompose in dark particles, Ruby and Blake turned their attention back to their task and started to search for the temple.

Few kilometres away from their position, a familiar blond brawler carefully continued to hope to find a good partner.

"Is someone there?" Her voice bellowed as she looked into two bushes hoping to find Ruby, but instead barely dodged the paws of two Ursa.

"Hey, did you see a girl dressed in red, with silver eyes and a scythe bigger than herself?"

Her humor wasn't perceived by the monsters, who continued to target the human with extreme aggressivenes.

Ember Celica masterfully aided Yang's punches and the first Ursa was demolished by the power of aura-enchanted fists with shotgun pellets.

She ducked another slow pawn attack from the remaining Grimm and blasted it with some Fire Dust bullets, leaving it weakened but still not death.

"You all here, you guys are really-" Her eyes widened and she felt as if ice was now flowing in her veins as she saw few, golden strands of her hair falling in front of her.

Yang's eyes turned crimson red, showing that the girl was now going Berserk upon the dumb creatures who touched her blond locks.

"MONSTERS!"

The young woman's aura flared fiercely, as if a burning inferno, and she started to punch the Grimm, completely obliterating the barely alive thing into dust.

As her small bout of anger cooled down the brawler barely noticed another little group of Ursa coming from the bushes but before they could reach for her, a rapier-like swords procedeed to stab the leading Grimm while several glyphs covered the remaining monsters in ice, frozing them.

Lilac eyes stared at Weiss Schnee as she removed Myrtenaster from the dead Ursa.

"Oh, not you!" The Xiao Long's groan were countered by the heiress' sigh as she shook her head.

"As much as I would like to be partnerless with this odd, I don't think the headmaster would allow it."

"I hope Rubes got a better partner.." New pellets stored in the chambers of Ember Celica, Yang followed Weiss inside the foliage.

Not so distant, Lie Ren was having trouble facing a King Taijitu.

StormFlowers failed to even dent the armored Grimm and, as one sweep of the humongous creature disamerd him. The young man tried to put more Aura in his hands, blocking the fangs and giving him some time before being bit down by the Grimm.

A bullet teared down the head of the King Taijitu that was trying to end him, forcing the beast to back away in pain and surprise.

Jaune had intervened the very moment he had seen this scene, sparing the life of his possible, new partner.

"Get away from him, overgrown worm!" The surviving head tried to attack the blonde, but Ren swiftly retook StormFlowers and put the blades into the monster's head before sending another pulse of Aura, ending its life.

As the blonde approached, Ren bowed curtly at his savior.

"I'm Lie Ren, thanks for the help back there.", greeted the Mistralian.

"Jaune Arc... You know, for a moment I actually thought you were a girl.", chuckled the knight slightly ankwardly.

"..Seriously?"

Jaune averted his eyes in embarassment from the pink-eyed teen.

" Sorry, it's just that I had plans and..." Ren sighed as he realised he had ended up with the strong, dorky guy.

"Just... let's go, we still have to take a relic to find."

The two guy commenced their walk to find the temple and Ren hoped to find Nora soon and cease all this worry he was feeling in that moment.

Nora was incredibly surprised to find how dangerous a group of small Boarbatusk were. One of them tried to jump over her, but she dodged with a roll and the beast was crushed by her big hammer's blow.

Said weapon turned into a grenade launcher and threw several explosive rounds at the quick monsters.

She then heard a noise and turned just in time to see a big Ursa trying to reach from her but a shield severed its head from its body as Pyrrha jumped to the battlefield, covering her partner's blind spot with her ruthless experience and weapons.

"Welcome in the meele!" The cheerful mood Nora was enjoying was boosted even further as she kicked away another Grimm and the entire pack was decimated by the two girls.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Pyrrha Nikos and-?" Before she could continue, Nora gave her an hug so strong that almost strangled the poor amazon.

"NORA VALKYRIE, YOUR NEW SUPER BESTIE! Now let's go search Ren, he promised me a lot of pancakes after the trial!"

As the overly-energetic girl disengaged from the embrace, Pyrrha started to follow her rambuctious partner, finding her personality as refreshing as tiring.

While the last partnerships were formed, Ruby and Blake arrived to the ruins of the temple of the Emerald Forest.

"Should we take a knight?" The Rose mused as she showed to her partner the chess piece.

"I'm fine with it. Maybe it's better if we move away quickly as we are pretty much in the open and..." Her voice died down as an Ursa ran out into the clearing, its body targeted by several pink explosion, eliciting groans of pain from the Grimm.

Then it fell to the ground and the two girls saw Nora skipping toward them like an happy child while Pyrrha accepted to just walk towards them in a trembling composure, her brain still trying to process what had just happened.

"Nora. Please, don't try it anymore." The amazon exclaimed as she tried to get some time to recover precious air. Magnhild moved slowly over her heads, leaving a small rook piece on it as the childish girl started to sing alone.

"I'm queen of the castle, you are queen of the castle too!'

A familiar blonde dropped from the sky in that moment, making the whole situation even weirder than before

" How could you leave me here?!"

Silver eyes stared up above and Ruby blinked as she noticed a white speck hanging onto the Nevermore encircling over them.

"I told you to jump, Ice Queen!" The heiress snorted at the loud reply and proceeded in descending on the ground while using her glyphs to slow her fall.

Yang actually felt a little bit shorter under Weiss' deadly glare but once more something else happened.

Yelling Jaune and Ren arrived at the temple, pushed back by an angry Deathstalker just slightly wounded.

Burning shots repelled the monster partially, giving the two young teens the opportunity to regain their bearings. "Thanks Pyrrha!"

"You are welcome, Jaune!"

"Guys!" Ruby yelled as she, Yang, Weiss and Blake defended themselves from the strikes of the Nevermore. "T-There are too many! We got what we needed!"

They all agreed to this as the Arc and Lie picked the remaining rooks.

Two packs of Beowulfs emerged from the forest blocking their path.

"Time to get serious.", said Weiss taking her necklace and clicking hit. Chambering some Wind Dust in the rapier, Weiss transformed into a white blur, slashing every monster with ease and ever faster than whath Yang saw earlier.

"That's so cool!" Ruby exclaimed in awe at the scene, causing the heiress to blush at those words.

"Fawning over cool moves later, we need to go!" Ren voiced everyone's thought but Jaune noticed that there was just too much pressure in the chase made by the Deathstalkers and the Nevermore.

As they arrived close to the cliff they noticed the lack of someone picking them up.

The had to fight the remaining Grimms if they wanted to live.

Blake managed to dodge a barrage of feathers and used Gambol Shroud's chain to reach the bird-like monster's head, delivering an entire load of normal bullets onto the creature.

It grunted in anger as it started to throw feathers randomly, forcing the girls still on the ground to dodge the dangerous pellets.

Ruby's mind hatched a simple but effective plan and, using her semblance to gain momentum, she rushed right below the wounded beast.

"Blake! Your chain!" The Faunus blinked before throwing the safe end of the chain at her partner.

"Yang, push me on the side and Weiss, use your glyphs to boost my speed."

The heiress blinked but silently created the white circle where the brawler threw her little sister into.

Using the boosted speed and the momentum of the chain, Ruby's body fluttered in a spiral that ended with Crescent Rose preparing for the kill.

"Off with your- HEAD!"

The scythe teared the Nevermore's head clean off the body, effectively killing it for good.

Dropping on the ground, the silver-eyed girl dropped her semblance and sighed in relief as she saw Blake calmly jumping off the falling corpse and into a tree's branch.

"That.. was insane." The heiress commented as she holstered her blade, yet an impressed glint sparkling in her blank composure.

With the remaining four teens, the last Grimm nearby held against their combined assault, making Jaune worried about their current tactic.

"Nora! Target the two trees on the Deathstalker's side." The quirky girl paused for a moment, nodding and smiling at the order.

"Sure, Jauney!"

Grenades teared the roots of the trees and Jaune's aura glowed brightly, extending onto Pyrrha and Ren.

"Pyrrha, Ren, push the falling trees onto the monster!"

The two exchanged an uneasy look before actually moving away from the path and onto the trees, to their own surprise pushing them easily towards the Deathstalker. Something thath even their best attempt at Aura Manipulation, were sure they could never do.

The Grimm had enough time to react as his wooden coffin fell upon him.

"My semblance permits me to amplify Aura, both its sheer power and healing factor.", explained the blond to his surprised friends.

Nora pounced at him, giggles lightening the four students' mood.

"That's so cool, Jauney! Oh, OH! Can you boost me next time too!"

He groaned under the barrage of the chirpy girl, while Ren and Pyrrha eyed the scened with the same amused look.

After properly checking for wounds and healing them, all the new students were reunited into the main hall, where the Headmaster was announcing the new teams.

"Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren and Nora Valkirye. You retrieved the white rook set and will work for the next four years as team JNPR, led by... Jaune Arc!" The blonde blinked in suprise, shocked by this promotion, while the others congratulated to him.

"Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long. You retrieved the white knight and will be know from this day as team RWBY, led by... Ruby Rose!", Yang hugged her sister congratulating her alongside Blake and Weiss, the latter eyeing their new leader with an intrigued look.

"It seems this will be an interesting year." Commented Ozpin as Glynda started to feel the headaches arriving quite soon.

In that very moment, General Ironwood, the principal of Atlas Academy, was assigning the new teams too.

A dutiful man in his late thirties that dressed in a totally white uniform, his black hair had some grey lines and his blue eyes showed nothing but calm but trusting professionality.

"Soichiro Seaspell, Emil Rj Fenris, Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil. From today onwards, you will be team SESP(Seaspell), led by Souchiro Seaspell!"

" Congratulations, bro!" greeted Emil his new partner as Soichiro blinked at the unexpected role.

" Congratulations, Soichiro." Piped in Penny as she smiled at her first friend's achievement.

Ciel instead didn't tell anything as she wasn't happy at all to end up in a team with two faunus. one of them even being leader.

This was going to be the worst four years of her life..

The same scenario was repeating at Haven, with Leonardo Lionheart doing his job as Headmaster. He was a lion faunus dressed with a red robe thath was leaving his tail out, had white beard and dark hair and tanned skin.

"Sun Wukong, Neptune Vasillas, Scarlet David and Sage Ayana. You will work together as team SSSN, led by... Sun Wukong." the blond monkey faunus smiled and clapped hands with his new teammates. Neptune was dressed in red, had tanned skin and blue hair. Scarlet was pretty pale, with red hair and was dressed in white clothes similar to a pirate, while Sage had the darkest tone and was dressed with a white coat, had green hair and tattoo representing numbers on his neck.

"Cinder Fall, Neo Politan, Mercury Black and Emerald Sutrai, you will be team CMPE (Composite), led by... Cinder Fall.". Cinder was a girl dressed as an archeologist, brown heir and golden eyes. Neo had a black dress, hair of the same colour, green eyes and was the shortest of the misfits. Mercury had silver hair, with black and grey clothes, while Emerald had dark skin, green hair with two tails at both sides and red eyes, dressing similar to Cinder, but mostly in white. The leader smiled in cold amusement as Lionheart gritted his teeth in muted anger.

In a warehouse inside Vale's capital, one of the Kingdom's most wanted criminals was adjusting his last plans. Roman Torchwick took the smoke out of his mouth as he tried to peacefully plan the next Dust heists before the forced deadline ended, sound of someone shooting nearby distracting him.

At his sanity's end, the criminal boss bellowed. "Stop practicing, and come here!"

Sound of footsteps highlighted the presence of this mysterious accomplice. A pretty short figure with a robe totally covering it.

"We are far from the target. Get some of Junior's men and go for some small robberies, enough to get something but small enough to not get the police onto us so soon.

The figure nodded and disappeared in the shadows, leaving Roman to shake his head at his unlucky predicament. Thath would be even harder he tought.

Hello to everyone, and sorry if i'm late. I hope you enjoyed the whole chapter, sorry if some part sounds too much like canon, i promise the nexts will have much less in common and we'll find out a lot of more intricacies. Ah, of course you asked if the're will be more Servants. The answer is yes, the're will be a lot of them, trough a few could be changed, and i'm not ashamed to say it will be because i can't stand their canon self(*cough*Nobunaga*cough*). I'm sure aniway you will like the story, thanks to everyone who reviewed, favored, followed and my beta, SocialistBukharin . The third chapter should arrive in a few days, see you soon.


	3. Chapter 3: Good training

**Chapter 3: Trouble, trouble, trouble**

It had passed some day since the initiation exam and the teams were slowly adjusting among themselves, teammates exchanging advices and training methods with the rest of their groups.

During their first Sunday together, team RWBY was actually trying to practice with a training regime that was used by Weiss prior to be in Beacon.

An hour and several laps around the Gym building later, RBY was starting to notice how much of a dull and tiring exercise it was.

"Weiss, how the heck do you manage to wear these things for the whole day?" Ruby's question was directed at small weights that the heiress had given to the trio, each matching their main theme.

The Rose would have been fine with just doing the laps without having the constant pressure over her legs distracting her and sometime getting her to crash on the others.

Weiss sighed as she paused to stretch her neck, sweat rolling from her face. "Six years of doing this routine. This is just a warmup for me now."

Blake's composed mask almost shattered at the unholy words leaving the heiress' mouth, now genuinely contemplating how little effort had been put into the training regime that the rookies of the White Fang followed.

Yang grinned, stopping herself to stare at the Schnee with a teasing expression.

"You seem quite fit, Ice Queen"

The blonde took a bottle of water and approached the heiress, the Altesian girl feeling her cheeks flushing at how little the brawler's shirt was covering of her toned body.

"I- It's nothing, really. Most of what I've accomplished is thanks to my teacher."

She played for a brief moment with the necklace Lancelot had given to her after their first week of training.

It was a remote control over the small weights placed on her body that gave her the chance to regulate them to match up the training's need.

The main reason he had entrusted this to her was mostly because she was quite lackful in stamina and brute strenght, something that had been caused by her specialisation with Myrtenaster and their precision-focused style.

That issue got fixed in mere months and now the heiress was pleased with the limits of her body as it guaranteed the opportunity to mix speed and graceful precision to create a deadly barrage from her rapier-based weapon.

"My shoulder is falling asleep.. again!" Ruby's whine were silently shared by the Cat Faunus as she felt her arms starting to get quite sore.

Of course all of RBY had trained with weights prior to Beacon, but never they had the chances to try the ones fueled by Gravity Dust.

Blake had heard about those just the year prior, those having been quite exclusive to Altesian Huntsmen until then.

Yet, between the constant complaining thoughts that washed over her tired mind, the Belladonna was surprised to see that her Uncle had been correct when he had said that she shouldn't have judged the Schnee.

The heiress seemed to know what she was doing, at least that was Blake had gained from the few days together.

Inside the Gym as RWBY continued with their laps, Pyrrha had decided to fix the issues with the newest leader of Team JNPR.

Jaune was... good. Better than the average, the amazon realised, but mostly lacking into hand to hand, knowing only some basis of boxe.

"Jaune, your punch needs to rotate quicker!"

Deflecting a following kick, the red-haired girl decided to bait the blonde with a feint and, as Jaune prepared to counterattack with his fist, Pyrrha dodged and kicked him in the stomach.

Her feet was pushed back and returned to position quickly enough to limit the effects when it impacted on the sturdy wall that was the Arc's Aura.

Seriously, how much did he have to be to actually cause damaged to any attackers? And both students were, for the same reason, glad they were using only the defensive ability of Aura. If they tried to enchanting their physical prowess, they were sure at least one of them would be into the infirmary at the end of the day.

" Damn it!" Jaune's face betrayed mostly annoyance with some hints of pain as he fell on the ground butt first.

Nora giggled at the scene as she was impressed by how strong her team was, contemplating how their leader would fare if he was put through her easy training regime.

For some reason, Ren felt the need to be really sorry for his leader, his pink eyes catching the 'mad scientist' glint in the Valkirye's eyes. While not(always) a battle maniac, his best friend and not-so-secret crush, was always very excited when meeting someone on par or superior to her.

" Oh! Ren, our fearless leader sure is quite strong." The cheerful exclamation that was meant as a praise actually made Jaune feel even more smaller than when Ozpin had given him the role.

"I'm doomed..."

A few hours later the two team were at the same dinner table, talking about their respective training.

"It's not that bad, Jaune. It's just that you need to pick up some fighting style if you ever get disarmed." Pyrrha patted the blonde knight as he was groaning with his head on the table.

"You should have seen Rubes when I wanted to train her in fist-fighting. She literally took a hit and she decided to stick with her weapons." Yang's giggles as she remembered that very moment were slightly drowned as she started to eat a peach.

"Sure, because having to spar with my older sister in an area she specialise with sure is something quite easy to accomplish.", commented Ruby, slightly resentful.

The dry tone didn't faze the smile on the blonde, quite the opposite.

Her smile turned _savage_. "Yet you can't even deliver a proper punch to a punching bag!", she insisted. Sadly beetween the many things Ruby didn't inherit at all from Tayang, there was also his fightning style. Qrow hoped to fix the problem during her last two years at Signal, but was anticipated.

The Rose aniway scowled at the mentioned memory, and a smile with the same intensity as her sister's replaced it. "Yet I am the one that knows better than you how to fix Bumblebee and it would be quite sad if I grew too much busy to help you repair it when you damage it."

The brawler's smile froze before turning into a nervous one as the veiled threat reached her brain." I-I just push you to learn 'cause you might lose Crescent Rose. How about that!" The discussion was interupted as a yelp of pain reached the two teams' ears.

Team CRDL was circling a bunny faunus as their leader, Cardin Winchester, was pulling one of her ears.

"S-Stop it!"

Blake was furious at the sight, yet she was surprised when Pyrrha reacted the same at the bullies acting against the girl.

Unknown to the cat faunus, the Invicible Girl had seen quite the same situation during her time at the orphanage and she had learned to help the victims by taking the bullies a peg down.

She was ready to excuse herself and intervene on the enraging scene when her eyes widened, Jaune halted her as he continued to look at the predicament with a calm expression, his other hand finishing a countdown.

" Whath are you doing?", asked the redhead, slightly confused by the gesture.

" Just counting the seconds those morons are yet to live?", answered her leader, with a self- confident tone.

Once the fist closed fully, the teams were shocked to see the girl pulling at Cardin's arm, snapping it before turning on the remaining trio.

A kick silenced the first to intervene and the faunus watched silently as the remaining two tried a pincer attack, failing as she jumped just in time to see them crashing into each other.

Finally in her hand appeared a rope and she tied the two members of CRDL together, close to kiss each other.

"That's what they gained by trying to bully Velvet Scarlatina." Jaune commented as he enjoyed the scene as if from one of the many action movies he had seen.

"P-Please! W-We surrender!" The Winchester's begging did nothing to quiet the retribution he and his team was getting from the failed attempt, getting his face planted on the wall as Velvet focused back on the recovering single boy.

Another kick, this one directed to his face, was actually the last moment of action of the encounter as the entire CRDL team was K.O.

"That's what happens when you bully people in an Huntsman school!"

Ruby's words were met by several heads nodding in agreement while the few ones still staring at the retreating Velvet (Pyrrha and Blake) were still processing what had just happened.

"H-How did you knew about... this?" Blake was surprised, elated but mostly confused by the counter-assault of the seemingly harmless girl.

" Velvet is the daughter of Iskandar Scarlatina. He stops quite frequently in the city where I live as he continues his operations in Sanus. I've known Velvet for a long time and she is the closest thing I have to a cousin."

Blake's surprise grew at the explanation as she remembered hearing about the powerful leader and his small army of mighty warriors hunting Grimms and bandits.

To see his daughter there... Beacon was certainly turning into an experience much more impressive than she had thought.

" Definitly they had it coming.", commented Weiss as well, furious at how someone with such behavior could become an Huntsman, and her toughts went to two other faunus she knew.

* * *

Klein was quite satisfied when Lancelot had decided to visit the kitchen of the Schnee Mansion, the knight having decided to engage in some friendly banter with him about Weiss. While the purple- haired man was on friendly terms with all the staff, especially the butler, it was rare seeing him relaxing.

But it was good talking with him of the girl they both loved and helped. It was refreshing to see the young heiress developing well and being happy, it reminded him of old times.

When Willow Schnee, Weiss' mother, was very young and ambitious.. before she was forced into marriage to Jaques. After thath, she fallen more and more into self depression to the point in was up to Klein raising her children.

"So is Snowflake doing fine in Beacon, any message from her?". That was how Klein had affectionally nicknamed the second daughter of the family, Winter having been for a long time now an Adelige (Lady).

"Apparently she finished into a team of interesting girls. There is two daughters of Taiyang and Summer and the little one of Ghira and Kali." He replied amused by the situation when he found it with her first letter, having knew first- hand the members of team STRQ.

He was sure that his 'other friends' had an hand on the situation yet the knight was happy that the four were together and showing good tuning with each other.

That sure didn't save him from Jaques' screams when he learnt that her daughter wasn't the team leader, but it was totally worth it. Especially given a little plan of him.

"Really? That's good and impressive to hear altogether!", cheered Klein, taking a beer.

" I'm quite shocked myself and I feel quite intrigued by how they will react when they will finally visit."

" I'm sure it will be a day to remember. It has passed so much since she craved this kind of close affections in her lonely room-"

"-And she grew into a strong and independent young woman, my friend, but not for this we'll stop protecting her from the worse threats." He took a sip from his cup as he thought about .

" Right, to Weiss Schnee!" Klein's cheerfulness infected Lancelot, who agreed at the toast.

" To Weiss!"

When they finished drinking the content of their glasses, the knight's scroll vibrated.

He answered and after a few seconds nodded with a more serious expression in his face.

"Sorry, Klein. Jaques was just reported that a group of Grimm is approaching the Mansion's area. Don't wait for me for dinner."

The butler nodded his direction and gave him a little punch of the shoulder. "Good luck, my friend."

Some minutes later, Lancelot was running in the white tundra, facing a large group of monsters, mostly Ursas and Creeps.

"Seems like Salem is not holding back today." Arondlight's runes glowed brightly with power as his wielder rushed to the first Grimm, beheading him with a single hit and the jumping to deal with rest.

He was a yellow-blue blur, appearing from a part of the battlefield to the other, destroying every, single enemy with swift strikes while blocking their attacks using Gryphs installed on his sword.

The art of Dust Glyphs wasn't very practiced in Remnant for his complex nature and the difficulty to learn the art properly, but it allowed to augment a lot the power of certain hits, especially if channeled trough the runes of Lancelot's sword, thath were the focus of thath energy.

While it still didn't have the versatility and range of modern Dust chambers, the sheer slashing power and penetrating power of his bullets made up for it.

His mad brawl seemed unstoppable, destroying Grimm after another as if he was dancing the deadliest dance of the world, a style he created for using as little energy as possible, until the horde was actually about to overpowering him.

He decided it was time to use his semblance and got enveloped into a bright light, before reapparing with a full armor, his helmet totally covering his head.

Lancelot's semblance, 'Knight of Owner', was considered one of the best powers classified as Aura Forging in Remnant, regarding raw power and defence, permitting him to block much stronger attacks than with just simple Aura and even shaping the armor or enchanting everything he takes in his hands to improve to the their maximum potential, even above his normal Aura Manipulation.

An Ursa was soon impaled by spikes forming from his armor (Somewhere in Menagerie, Vlad sneezed at the thought that someone had stolen his style.) as the knight continued to run into the massive concentration of enemies, killing whathever came on his sight, then he jumped and landed on some of the creatures, elemental explosion caused by the various tipes of dust tearing through the ranks of the hive-minded foes.

His streak stopped as his blade came in contact with a Gorilla-like Elder Grimm, which dodged the attack and tried to engage the speedfreak head on.

"A smart one, indeed, as expected by an elder Grimm. You waited until I was tired enough before challenging me. Don't expect I will hold back against your kind." His comment was met with a roar and Lancelot dodged a quick punch, his blade tried to cut on the Gorilla's knee, helped by a costant flow of projectiles, but as Arondlight bounced from the armoured bit, the knight frowned as more Aura flooded through the glyphs, his sword now demanding the price of the Grimm's life.

Anger started to darken his vision as the Knight felt his instinct more primal than ever, a roar left his mouth as the Gorilla had barely the time to react to the utter massacre it was victim of.

Glowing red, the sword started to chip piece by piece the armour, until it finally started to cut through its skin, piercing and stabbing the softer weakness.

With a last slash, Lancelot glanced at the Gorilla's face, fear painted in the face of a creature that shouldn't be able to feel, almost asking pity.

The monster's head flew into the knight's feet and he crushed it without hesitation, the attack force now fully defeated.

Armour fading out, the man fell on the ground, sitting on it as he removed his scarf to try and help to calm down his labored breathing.

Two sets of gills now visible from his neck, the man finally calmed down.

" Ah, old habits are hard to die.", commentend with an oddly chuckle, more sadden than everything else. Of one thing, he was sure, he had to grow even stronger.

* * *

If Adam Taurus had been told few weeks before that humans and Faunus could ride Grimms with an Aura trick, he would have cut down the fool to pieces.

Yet it was happening, his men were safely training their new 'rides' in preparation for new raids. Monsters thath he was used to fight as much humans, were now obeying their orders.

He growled as the woman by his side scowled at the scene.

" Hm, they bonded faster than i tought of. Impressive for such weaklings."

Cinder Fall had been a cursed gift and the more he wanted to get rid of her, the more he found out that the White Fang needed her to help.

She was the only contact with this Queen of Grimms and Adam didn't felt ready to engage against more aggressive raids from the dark creatures.

"Shouldn't you be in Haven, Fall? I know you have the Headmaster's backing you up, but I thought you would be smarted in avoiding further attention from your 'fellow' classmates?"

She glanced at him bored before sighing dully.

"The official excuse is we're following a professional Huntsman who requested our presence, we'll officially return tomorrow. I will obviously abide with those conditions, knowing full well the strictness of the rules of Haven, both those of the school and those of our bargain with Lionheart."

Poison seemed to drip in every word that left her mouth, adding an even more disgusting trait to this human.

Haven Headmaster was the spy of her faction into Ozpin's group, but was very much restrained by the adamant rules of the Academy he was Headmaster of. Plus the Faunus was very adamant about their part of the deal, the moment they broken it, he would change side immediatly. And said part included also the woman's team following all of Haven's rules.

"Any news of the Belladonna?" Something that Adam was more than happy to have gained in the deal with Cinder was a constant flow of information regarding his confused and traitorous partner.

Cinder's reaction was a simple smile, just enough to enrage the bull faunus but not truly urge him to stampede in their plans..

" Yeah, she's right at Beacon... in the very same team with Weiss Schnee.", she answered with a very mocking tone, sweet as honey, yet poisonus as acid.

The reply gained the expected result, anger flooding once more Adam's judgement. "What?!"

The Grimm started to cease their actions, their eyes turning all over the enraged leader of the White Fang, while the grunts tried to calm them.

"You should learn to control your feelings, Taurus. You are a mere instrument in the big chess table and Sienna might be persuaded to join our side without your committment."

The threat paused his trail of thoughts and the man stared at the retreating woman, murderous thoughts now directed at her with the fierceness of a charging bull.

* * *

Hi, guys, if you're reading this, then i managed to fullfill my objective, pubblic this chapter before the new year. Thank for this also SocialistBukharin as always, thath does as always an amazing job. I hope you liked everything, if you didn't then post some costructive criticism, which is always welcomed. Now if you're wondering about the Grimm part and how i presented it, sorry, i shoulda make it more detailed, but this will be compensated into next events, swowing more and more their true natures.

Also a thing about who's following Volume 6. I'm loving it and the lore RT came up with, but i'm going full Au on this regarding Remnant's past and Salem, i'm sure aniway you'll love my ideas and the battles i'll do.

I hope all you readers had a merry Christmas and will have an Happy new year.


	4. Chapter 4: Battle at the docks

**Chapter 4: Docks**

* * *

It was a nice morning in Vale,'.

The sun was bright and there was no sign of clouds while the workers continued their jobs by the local docks.

"Can you remind me what we're doing here, Weiss? Because I am half-tempted to ditch all of this to return to bed."

Yang didn't bother to hide a yawn as it was far too early in the morning for her to even be in that gloomy place, she couldn't even fix right her feeling tought was seemingly shared by the other teammates as even Weiss looked 'doubtful' herself about her own 'brilliant' plan.

"Ruby and I decided that we need to gather more information about our future opponents. Plus the Vytal festival is around the corner, there is lots of things to do and buy." She blinked, somewhat less tired. "Do you want to lose all of that?"

"Not thath there are many shops open right now." Blake mused quietly, her eyes had seen that many buildings had closed during their first shift to finish the last preparations for the event.

Still, several decorations had already put and the work seemed to be going quite smoothly.

"I-I want to also be helpful! We will win!" Ruby's entusiastic whine was almost silenced immediately as several policeman rushed towards the same shop she had helped to save from a robbery attempt from Roman Torchwick few months earlier.

They approached the guard set near the entrance as the Rose decided to take the lead, worried about whath happened. "What is wrong?"

"Dust robbery, the third time this week." The officer answered, yet he barely hid his annoyance at having to deal with some interrogation from a bunch of teens.

"Any suspects?" Weiss' own question did nothing but irk him further and he was half-tempted to lecture those girls to stop harrassing them.

That was until he noticed the weapons and their experienced stance.

To say that Vale Police Department wasn't fond of Huntsmen was an understandment.

It had happened multiple times that some cases were literally removed from their hands and given freely to some Hunstman.

Yet that dislike was kept at bay by an important point: Huntsmen were revered( for good reasons, aniway, since a lot of them specialized in ' normal' investigations) and, any damage against them would cause anyone responsible an expulsion from the VPD.. at least.

"The White Fang and Torchwick are our biggest suspects. Through this might be the work of some new gang, we are still studying the crime scene."

"Like Grimm weren't already a problem.." Yang almost groaned, remembering how her father had said that Huntsmen might have to deal with criminals too in their job.

"Or the White Fang itself." Blake glared at Ruby because of her uncalled comment.

"Can you stop talking about them, please?" The leader of the team frowned but shook her head.

"Sorry Blake. I'm not fond of those who hurt civilians, like in that protest few months ago-"

"Neither am I!" The Heiress interjected, interrupting Ruby's speech. "I even know few faunus acquaintances and they consider the White Fang nothing short to violent hypocrites."

The Belladonna was surprised by her words, clearly unsure if the Schnee was referring to her surrogate uncle or someone else, yet she found herself irked by having to hear the former organisation she was part of being badmouthed like this.

Whatever she had planned to say was cut down by a collective groan.

Turning around, team RWBY saw team JNPR with similar defeated look.

"Even this one is closed?! Is official, is a conspiracy!" An exasperated Pyrrha looked even more disheartened to the mere fact.

"Did you have to buy new mags?" Yang asked perplexed at the dramatic stance from the whole group.

"Not exactly." Ren sighed with a slightly more optimistic but calm outlook. "Nora and I wanted to buy some Dust and cloth to create special clothes."

"And... you are okay with that?" Ruby frowned as Jaune merely nodded at her.

The four girls shared a shiver to their spines as they imagined the very scary idea of giving the duo more Dust to use.

Nora's semblance allowed her to absorb electricity to further increase her physical prowess and electric Dust worked too in her case, while Ren with his Aura Manipulation could deal elemental tecniques capable of harming even Grimm like those they faced during the initiation's ending.

"I would gladly give you some spare but I'm waiting as well for some more supplies."

Weiss sighed as she contemplated her situation regarding the robberies.

With this shortage, the price for Dust would have to increase further, making it difficult for Huntsmen to save up enough for their missions. Dust monopoly was hellish.

"We can't just wait there like this! We need to see how to solve this issue before we will end up without any Dust to use!" , yelled Ruby determinated, gaining all the present's attention, surprised by her little outburst and rapidly started to planning a solution... thath came to the least expected source.

"You require a solution, ladies and gentlemen?" A voice asked from behind them. "I believe I can provide you with that." A tanned, monkey faunus anwered with a full-blown grin.

Sun Wukong was in Vale!

* * *

"What is this so called 'solution' of yours?"

Sun had led them to a close bar were they could sit and listen to his plan regarding the robberies.

"I've got a little group of friends from Atlas who informed me that a batch of new supplies from the SDC was going to arrive in few days from now. Since we are talking about a **massive** cargo, I am quite sure that whoever is responsible will not let this opportunity go to waste."

"Just to know, who are these friends and why should we trust you?" Weiss' rapier was ready to strike down the scoundrel if the answer was not opportune or false.

"You might found it unbelievable how someone like 'me' could befriend the bunch of people I am going to cite but... Souichiro Seaspell has a good friend of mine within his teamr."

"Seaspell? Do you mean Medea Seaspell's son?" Pyrrha couldn't believe that someone just as young and untrustworthy( for now) could know about the famous Atlesian woman. "Seriously , how do you know her and her son?"

"I don't know much about the pretty lady but I was just trained alongside her son's partner under the same teacher and so I came to know a little about Souichirou... I think their team should arrive here quite soon." The male faunus said with a calm voice checking the hour on his scroll.

Weiss blinked as she noticed how peculiar this coincidence was

Souchiro was one of the few friends she had in Atlas, but last time she saw him was almost an year ago, both too much busy with their own studies and then the different Academies they had chosen.

"Interesting connections.." Blake's comment was restrained as she still doubted about the factuality of Sun's words and so she decided to keep a neutral stance with this 'stranger'.

"By the waaay, who trained you and this guy?" Nora pointed a lamp, unknown where she had taken it, and flashed its light upon the boy's face.

Confused, the monkey faunus looked at the girl's teammates and Ren merely shrugged and gestured him to 'go along with it', knowing full well she wouldn't leave him in peace without having her curiosity satisfied.

Sun sighed, knowing that there was little to do to avoid answering with so many people now interested in that subject.

"None other than the great King Hassan, best teacher in all of Remnant." Everyone blinked at that smug presentation, this claim actually bringing Pyrrha to giggle a little while Ren shook his head with a small smile. Yang and Nora after a few seconds of silence directly started laughing, while Jaune, Weiss and Blake had to keep themselves to do so, with the result of getting red as they never were in all their life.

Ruby's nervous giggle was meant to not press the subject too much.

None of the presents wanted to offend their new acquaintance, but the idea the most powerful and skilled Assassin in all of Remnant had taken someone like _him_ as an apprentice was nothing short to ridiculous.

"Ehi! I swear it was him to train me. I-I wasn't even the only apprentice. I had several seniors and we all had to call him Gramps(1)." You would think that the greatest King of Assassins would have not demanded that little nickname from his disciples and yet Sun had been quite surprised to call him that. Trough this reaction was pretty much whath the young Faunus wanted, after all he was ordered to answer with the truth to the question Nora gave him and making it sound as a stupid joke. So far the trick always worked

He then sighed and offered to pay for everyone, but a purple missile crashed onto his shoulders under the eyes of everyone. They were gifted with the sight of a pretty overweight wolf faunus( armed also with two tonfas thath weren't definitly light at all) sitting confortably on Sun's shoulders. The blonde Huntsman, trough, wasn't effected in the slightlest.

"Bro, stop harrassing people with your petty flirt attempts! I thought I told you that flirting with multiple girls and dudes was kind of beyond your abilities." The wolf faunus chuckled as Sun grabbed him and launched him right behind his ' businness partners', landing aniway withouth problems.

The two teams blinked as the seemingly average teen had some surprising strength and dexterity.

"You frigging scared me, Emil. But hello to you too!", greeted Sun before trying an high kick, which Emil crouched and dodged the kick while he hit the friend's standing leg with his open palm.

"Geez, Sun, no need to be so snappy at me."

The two Faunus continued to exchange blows but none seemed to actually deal any damage to each other.

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Ruby pointing at the fighting teens as they somehow reminded her a little of how her father and her uncle Qrow relationship worked.

Sometime they would do some little sparing during an argument but in the end her uncle would have to concede to Taiyang, the blond being much more specialised in hand-to-hand combat. Trough these arguments became much more serious in the period of her mother's birthday and her funeral, they could fight eventually for hours.

"Nah, they are merely playing around. " Jaune stated calmly, having see this happening when his father would spar with multiple recruits while his mother wasn't around.

"I confirm." Ren's comment was given the same time the rest of team SESP arrived to the scene.

Shouchiro was stoic as always, Ciel had an annoyed look on her face and Penny was looking around and staring every shop nearby, her bubbly personality finally free to explore around without Atlas' constritions in action.

"Don't cause any problems, Emil . I don't think we need to pay more than we already have to for our needs." The leader's remainder was delivered in a quiet tone as he distanced the wolf faunus by picking his ear.

Meanwhile the rest of the now pretty big group approached the new arrivals, Weiss smiling at Souichirou while Yang seemed to keep close to the Heiress for some reason. Maybe it was just a partners thing?

"Good to see you again, Souichirou." The Schnee greeted the snake faunus warmly and the others used that moment to introduce themselves as well.

"Glad to meet you, I'm Penny Polendina and she's Ciel Soleil." Penny replied after RWBY and JNPR said their names. "And we are Emil's teammates and friends."

"Just teammates." Ciel corrected her while thinking how someone as Penny could keep her cheerful attitude going for so long.

"Sooo.." Ruby tried again to return back to the subject in their conversation. "Sun told us that you had informations about a possible new Dust robbery. What can you tell us about it?"

"In layman's terms, a massive supply for refurnish Vale's shops will arrive this Sunday to the docks and it will be left unattended for a few hours. According to our sources, whoever is causing this crime spree will use that window of opportunity to capture the entire cargo."

"But we will intervene and stop the criminals from committing this horrible deed. Right, Shouichirou?!" Penny exclaimed with utter determination and with a sense of justice dripping from her tone.

"Of course, but we also have to know what they intend to do with it." If some criminal stole such quantity of potential explosive, they didn't want just to sell it, it was almost sure because they wanted to do something to do with it, something incredibly devastating.

The Huntsmen-in-training agreed to take action and were ready to go to the docks two days later, when the hit was supposed to happen.

While they ended their discussion, two young girls continued to watch them from the bar. Both were very short, one around sixteen years with blond hairs grouped in two tails and blue eyes, while the other was around eleven, with a black dress, dirty white hair and golden eyes.

"Should we alert dad?" The youngest asked as they both decided to retreat back.

* * *

In that cloudy weekend, the thirteen students were at the docks as they had planned.

They were divided in three groups, guarding each sections of the various containers.

Everyone (with the exception of Sun, Emil and Souichirou) were quite nervous about this pseudo-mission, being their true time they weren't simply killing some criminal met on the spot and one of them was also afraid of whath she could discover.

A certain Cat faunus was the most nervous of the big group and was unnerving everyone by walking back and forth as they waited.

"Is something wrong, Blake?", asked Ruby, just slightly irritated at her partner.

After all, while the little reaper was one of the gentlest people of Remnant according to almost everyone who knew her, she wasn't by any means a saint in every opportunity.

Several idiots who thought that either finished in the infirmary room back in Signal or at the cemetery if they went too far in Vale or on Patch.

"I-It's nothing." Blake replied as she closed her arms close to her chest.

"Liar!" Yang butted in as she noticed the little trembling in her hands, not fooling anyone.

"Is it because the White Fang, right?" Asked a concerned Weiss.

The way Blake's shoulders moved was a clear sign the heiress hit a sore spot.

"No, not at... ARGH, alright, you deserve to know!" She said with guilty in her voice. "I was part of the group."

An odd silence fell on the area and the faunus was quick to realise _why._

"Y-you were already suspecting?!"

"Mostly anti-social faunus, dressed in black and too often with dark mood while reading tragic books? Either you had an abusive family, that was Nora's hypothesis or you were part of some shady organisation." Yang explained boringly, tired of waiting and especially annoyed that this was becoming just a scout mission without any planned fights.

"As much right you are, Yang, couldn't you phrase it in another way? Out of respect for Blake, I mean." Weiss's comment fell on deaf ears as the Belladonna tried to find a proper comeback to that situation.

"I can't believe you act this way for me." Blake's voice was trembling a little in surprise at the lacking reaction.

"Well, Blake, you already know our opinion on the White Fang." Ruby piped in, a cautious note in her voice as she wasn't meaning to annoy her friend.

" I wanted just to help my species, to strenghten our rights in Remnant." She continued to say, remembering her parents' dream. Her dream, corrupted by Adam's hate and most on all her own blindness.

Her monologue was interrupted by the familiar noise of several bullheads landing near the dock's middle zone.

It wasn't that much a surprise anyway that several White Fang's thugs rushed out of them and started to work quickly to steal the various packages, Blake already expected it after the talk she had with Vlad some months earliear. The real surprise was the human who lead them, the same person thath in a way permitted Ruby's arrive in Beacon.

"Wait a minute! I-Is that?!"

Ruby stared precisely at the leading figure of the thieves and she recognised him.

Orange hair? Check.

Cane mixed with a rocket launcher? Check.

Dandy style that would make one question the man's preferences? Check!

Ladies and gentlemen, Roman Torchwick was here to steal some more!

"You should hurry up faster, fleabags. We are already late in our schedule!"

"What is he doing here with them?" Prepping Ember Celica, Yang smiled eagerly at the possible fight that would ensue soon, while the leaders where talking on their scrolls about how acting.

"Ok, Pyrrha and I can keep him busy, meanwhile you... WAIT, BLAKE, NO!" Jaune almost cursed when the faunus girl rushed against Torchwick putting her katana at his throat and tried reasoning with the other faunus, while her teammates and friends cursed her carelessness,

"Ruby, no offence.. but you should have a better control over your teammates."

Souichirou sighed as he left his hiding spot when the fight started.

Roman took advantage of Blake's surprise to throw her in mid-air towards an explosive round before starting shooting several blast at her.

Using her clones and her impressive speed, she outmanouvered the attacks and planned how to capture him.

"Ciel, stay behind him. Penny, make a barrier with your swords. Emil, slow him." The Snake Faunus ordered with a steely tone as team SESP prepared to contain the infamous crime boss, surrounding him while the rest of their companions engaged the cronies.

Ciel, while not always so fond with Souchiro, at least followed his orders when necessary and pointed a pair of pistols to the orange haired criminal, while from Penny's backpack a swarm of blades blitzed around the five opponents, creating a small green barrier around them.

"Mphh, that's it? I've broken out barriers much more durable than this one, you-", Roman commented arrogant trying to hit Ciel with an Aura enchanted fist. Emil smirked as he slammed onto him and launched against the thief recovered just in time to see Souichirou rushed at him with his green-glowing dagger and was quite surprised when the Atlas' student outspeeded him in his dodging attempt.

'What is this?!' He thought as the youth dodged another attack from his stick trying to figure out whath was happening. 'Is time.. slower?'

He tought it could be an effect of the barrier, but outside of it the other fighters were still moving normally. He tried aniway to attack Penny for escaping.

That is if he could manage to get enough space away from the remaining Atlas' students.

Ciel's handguns blasted two powerful laser beams that forced the criminal right in Emil's and Souichirou's proximity.

He tried to jump and avoid getting forced to deal with two opponents on each side but he soon found difficult to make the easiest of overtakes, until Emil raised an hand toward him and the poor orange haired criminal started to float

The wolf faunus was glowing and that meant.. he controlled gravity, Roman realized with a groan before being launched toward a container. After the impact, he lost a good chunk of his Aura, he definitly needed help.

While Torchwick faced a very bad situation, Ruby and her team were facing withouth many difficulties the swarm of thugs, each of them getting their Aura broken after a few hits.

One of them tried to jump at her but she swung Crescent Rose in time to.. break his glass form?!

She blinked and had just a moment to dodge a pointy umbrella from pincushioning her body.

The owner of the weapon was a short girl with brown and pink hair, heterochromatic eyes of the same colors and a white tuxedo.

She smiked evily and when Yang tried to attack her, she avoided the first attack and retaliated easily by punching her stomach, sending her flying.

Crescent Rose collided against the umbrella, the clash causing some pressure around them as the two girls continued an endless exchange that saw neither of them capable of finding a blind spot in each other's guard.

' Roman had someone so strong on her side?', tought Ruby terrified, while she felt the girl's Aura level and physical prowess against her was dreadful to know that someone so powerful was affiliated to the crime boss.

It was then that Blake tried to intercede against the silent fighter but was surprised when she took out a slim blade out of her umbrella and almost beheaded her.

The young woman was still in quite the disadvantage but it was just as they had planned in case of ambush.

It was all a matter of time to get a victory out of that situation.

"Thanks for helping me with the stall, Neo! Now you little rascals will know the true meaning of Nightmare." A fourth bullhead arrived and fifteen WF thugs descended heavily armored and.. having some Grimm with them, their sight terrifying all Huntsmen in training. As far they knew, despite all the ages those monsters plagued Remnant, no one ever managed to control them, not even semblances could do thath.

Sun and Emil realised that his could be what Hassan had perceived, something foul and dangerous. And that was the White Fang being able to tame Grimm without sacrifice.

"I bet you kids are surprised at this, eh! Roman cheekily stated as he retreated back with Neo.

The lieutenant leading the new squadron aimed his axe at the composed group of huntsmen-in-training.

"Surrender now and you will have a swift death, even for the the traitor and the Schnee." His threat fell empty on their ears as Ruby looked quickly at the Heiress.

"Never! Weiss, go!" Her teammate didn't waste time in charging aura in Myrtenaster and, few second later, a torrent of ice flew to the Huntress' enemies trough the ground, freezing a good chunk of them, but most Faunus and Grimm still escaped and directed through the group.

A Deathstalker big as a puma rushed toward Ruby, who shoot a barrage of gravitational bullets without much effect, but Emil came to her rescue easily destroying the scorpion's armor with his Tonfas, now infused with thunder Dust, then hit one of the grunts with a rocket.

"All ok?" He asked Ruby, who now directed to a group of Ursa, slashing them with her scythe.

"Yeah but whath the hell happened here?!"

From the other side, Ren and Nora was fighting another Faunus aided by two Beowulfs.

The green ninja had some problem with the opponent's physical strength and speed, but after kicking him right on the head, he lost his balance and an Aura strike later he was dealt with, while Nora for one relied more on his raw skill for dodgin the Grimm's claws and countering, finding her normal approach a waste of energy.

"How did you manage to tame them?" Pyrrha's question was met by several thugs attacking her all at once, their batons crashing on her shield as her lance swept them off their feet.

"Y-You would like to know, _human_!"

Both Grimm and Faunus, while not so powerful, were still pretty strong and tough compared to their usual counterparts and were definitly giving a run for their money to the Huntsmen-in-training.

Roman and Neo didn't make things easier, needing in fact the full attention of team SESP to be held at bay.

Through, unknow to all thirteen students, another figure in the shadow was watching everything, Ruby in particular.

"No one hurts dad..."

* * *

The surname of King Hassan isn't exactly canon, but i've a group of friends, writer themselves, and we all like to call him thath, it seemed fit.

Hi, guys, sorry for the enormous late, but exams kept me from writing or even traducting, luckily they both went good and now i'm here again, also thanks to Social, my awesome and helpful beta reader. I hope the chapter was enjoyable to you, in the case give me some constructive critique and i'll try to improve as much possible. Next chapter will be the end of volume 1, see you soon.


	5. Chapter 5: Warrior of the darkness

Cap 5: Warrior of the darkness

In a few minutes, what should be only a little fight at the port to forbid a thief of very important goods, rapidly became a battle for the life of the Huntsmen in training. Luckily they were some of the best Huntsmen in training out there and they showed it by decimating and imprisoning their enemies.

" And this was the last one.", said Jaune impaling the last Creep on Moonblanc's blade, finally the battle was ended. Near the young paladin all his companions had ended their respective battles and were tying the White Fang's grunts. But one of the other two blondes was having a bit of doubts on what was really happening.

" Eh, girl, stay down.", said Sun to Neo, which was in front of him still in her fighting guard with a little smirk. They engaged each other during the battle creating a clear stalemate and now she was the only one still on her feet. He expected her to fight more, she still had a good part of her Aura, taken Roman's cane when he was defeated and demonstrated to be possibly stronger than him. Instead she just offered her wrists. '

She's just waiting something', realized the monkey faunus before giving her a pair of handcuffs, ready for everything.

" Let's break her legs, just to be sure?", asked Nora to his side, after finishing blocking all the other enemies. Ren and the rest of her team for once didn't disagree with her, the last thing they wanted was a new trouble. Meanwhile, Weiss was putting Roman and his cronies in a stone cage, all handcuffed with Aura blocking wrists,, while Blake questioning them.

" How could you do that? And how the hell did you manage to bond with Grimm?!", she asked to the pretty mangled leader, her tone angry as never before. And a bit scared, she wasn't sure if he really wanted to know how such things was possible. Last time something similar succeeded it was a miracle there was no massacre.

" Puff, Adam was right, a fucking hypocrite and an idealist. Didn't you side with those Huntsmen?", answered one of the men with an evil smirk on his face, causing his companions and Roman to laugh.

" At least I'm trying to do something better.", Blake commented firm, but she could fill all the regret at what she did within the past years for an ideal she didn't believe in anymore, yet kept fighting for.

" And do you really hope to clean everything with this? You're worse than your father.",said another of the grunts, laughing hard. Blake was about to counter, but Ruby stopped her grabbing her shoulders.

" Let it go, Blake, is no worthy.", said the young reaper and they agreed to let the prisoners to Huntsmen and police, trough probably Blake would have to explain a lot anyway, also to her team. They went toward Penny, Pyrrha and Emil who were thinking about whath to do now.

" We alerted the authorities, so why not training? If the White Fang can really control Grimm, we have to become much stronger.", proposed the Wolf Faunus with a very serious tone, watching a crater on the ground where he smashed a Beowulf just a few minutes earlier.

" That's true, but we also need and deserve to rest a little. I say to make a little, I know a little local near here", countered Pyrrha a bit more cheerful, while Penny turned toward the Ruby, who looked at her with a worried expression.

" Oh, I can't wait to go with my friend Ruby. You're my friend, right?", she asked with a bright of hope in her eyes. The little redhead looked at Emil and Souchirou in search of an answer. The two guys nodded with their head, while her team and Ciel- had the opposed reaction.

Well, Ruby knew already she couldn't be liked and wouldn't like everyone in the world. But Penny was so insistent and fluffy she couldn't resist( irony of fate, someone tought the same of Ruby herself).

"... yes, sure.", answered in the end Ruby, patting Penny's head. Someone almost 'cooed' at the fluffy scene, but not Ren. The young ninja felt a presence, at first weak, then stronger and stronger, definitely on par with a professional Huntsman, but much darker, and it was behind where the girls were! Looking up he saw something on the container, a shapeless black figure who jumped on the group like a demon in the night.

" ALERT!". Penny noticed that thing in time and shoot at it a laser, that was easily dodged trough. The creature then landed some meter away from them and put out its hood, revealing in that moment to be a children(or at least, what appeared to be a children) with a mantle. She had dirty white hair, skin of the same unnatural color with black lines, eyes with a black sclera and red iris, while in her hands were placed two black knives with a very creepy Aura around them.

" S- she's like a Grimm.", commented Weiss, horrified at the look just like all her teammates. So far the only 'Grimm hybrids' they saw came from third rated horror movies. But none of those fake monsters came closer in sheer terror of the girl that was facing the group. Even her expression seemed taken from a veteran soldier ready to kill at will.

" C'mon, she's only a children...", tried to reason Jaune, who anyway felt a very weird sensation. A voice in his head was screaming him to run alongside his team, the power he truly felt from the child was... Almost like that of his parents. United to the dark power possessed by the elder Grimm.

" Free dad, now!", she demanded with a childish, but threatening voice, rising her knives.

" Calm dow, little one- Souchiro said, hoping Jaune was right, but his senses were on alert just as the blonde's one- what's your name? Maybe we can reach a compromise.".

" Jack. And no compromise for us.", answered the young girl... Or whatever she was.

" Look, Jack, why don't you try to leave aside those knives?", Penny tried again to calm her, but with no results. Every of her companions was surrounding the new potential enemy, ready to counter every strike.

" First free Neo.", ordered again while her Aura seemed to boil to a level none of the students could reach. Ruby, trying to ignore her own anger, made a sign to Sun and Blake, who released Neo. The bicolor girl went all happy toward Jack, a smile so creepy that it only confirmed how much the situation worsened.

" So, what do you want now?", asked again Souchiro reaching for his own weapons.

" Kill all of you!", Jack her back appeared a cloud of darkness which became a black and red portal, where several Grimm started to emerge from, freezing the spine of everyone. She then cut Neo's handwrites, disappearing and appearing almost istantly behind Jaune. Luckily the young paladin was fast enough to parring the next slash with Crocea's shield, despite being send away several meters away.

" Plans?", asked Emil to his leader, who sheathed his daggers.

" Emil, Penny, with me. Ciel, protect the prisoners.", he said simply before sending an Aura shockwawe to the monsters, with all his team focusing on them, bullets in every direction.

" Yang, go with Ciel. Blake, Sun, think of the Grimm!", ordered Ruby to her sister, while firing toward Neo, which broken every time in a storm of glass appearing again and again confusing her opponents while waiting the right moment to attack again. Meanwhile team JNPR was busied with Jack and some of her Grimm. The albino girl was clashing with Ren, dodging easily as breathing all his Aura enchanted strikes while countering with rapid slashes that were depleting his Aura.

" Nora, Pyrrha, take her from the sides!", Jaune ordered leaving space to the girls, that tried to hit Jack, who anyway dodged again every swift without problems and kept them at bay easily. Not far Ruby kept shooting at Neo with everything she had.. The thief trough noticed how her ally was doing and taken advantage of the reaper reloading her rifle for attacking her in the throat, but Weiss got into the way after covered Myrtenaster in a blur of wind.

" Get away, little...", gritted Weiss trying to push away Neo, who disappeared again in a storm of glass. The white and red duo went back to back for a probably counterattack from their enemy, but they weren't Neo's actual objective. Returning on Jack, she was now fighting to a stalemate all of JNPR, with Roman cheering loudly.

" Ah, that's my girl!", he yelled with the White Fang's member joining in hope the mysterious girl would free them as well. Ren tried to hit Jack's head with an Aura enchanted bullet, but missed again and she pulled out a revolver shooting him right into the eye, before Nora taken the attack on her hammer.

" STAY AWAY FROM MY MAN!", she screamed, sending away Jack with a roll of Maghnild. Jaune joined shooting at the girl, hoping to finally finish the fight. But Jack proved again to be a much superior opponent they tought of, and dodged the bullets with a series of acrobatic moves and countering with her revolver, which was just as powerful as Roman's cane despite the appearances, blasting away Pyrrha and her leader. Right in that moment arrived two other Bullhead heavily, who shouted on the group of Huntsmen before Pyrrha focused her semblance on their huge firearms to twist them, breathing very heavily. Too much time focusing onto smaller weapons helped the amazon into polishing her skills, but going all out now could be quite tiresome.

" COVER!", yelled Ruby attacking the ship with her rifle, while the others went into hiding, even Yang and Ciel had to leaver their position. Neo charged a piece of Thunder Dust, with the clear intention of attacking Ruby. Luckily Penny, free now from the Grimm, spotted her and hit her with a green laser, before Emil went to her, using his semblance to augment his weight and block her.

" Try your best, bitch!", Neo for all answer rolled on the floor taking Emil with her, both of them hitting the other as fast they could in a multi colored tornado who pretty much shattered the ground, before the faunus finally managed to thrown her against a container, at the cost of his Aura shattering. Neo smirked to the vision and made a sign to Jack, who nodded and jumped on Jaune's head, directed toward the cage where Roman and his subordinates were blocked.

" Don't dare you!", screamed Pyrrha standing in her way. The redhead was already pushed to her limits blocking the Bullheads' firearms from attacking, but she moved one hand for stopping Jack by focusing on her weapons, who begun to float in mid air surrounded by a black halo. Anyway she freed from it without problems with a pulse of Aura, and started to attack Pyrrha in a incredibly swift clash of weapons. Now the amazon was clearly in disadvantage. And at the same time the bullheads could start once again to fire, obliging everyone to hide.

" Pyrrha!", screamed her leader running to her and flaring his Aura up, a white halo enveloping both him and Pyrrha, who begun to go toe on toe with her enemy. Trough now all the fighters who were focusing on Neo had now to block the upcoming bullets, that would destroy for sure the remains of their Aura if they didn't manage to dodge or hide in time.

" Hey, girls, the police is arriving with a few of the heavy hitters( pretty much swats with lots of weaponry) I advice you to free immediately the prisoners, or we'll have to leave you here!", alerted Roman to Jack and Neo, who begun to go towards the cage.

" Ok, I'll hurry!", answered the former blocking with another of her knives a shield strike from Jaune, before activating her semblance. A grey mist enveloped her and the entire battlefield. No one could see what was happening, even the Bullheads stopped attacking, instead one of them opened the door for the cargo and from the mist came a very long grapple, which was taken by a faunus on the ship. Then, Roman risen from the mist with Jack and Neo attached to him!

" SAYONARA, BRATS!", wade off the dandy thief to the Huntsmen in training, whose sight was still blocked by the fog. Weiss and Souchiro then created an Aura shockwawe together, dispersing the mist and seeing what was happening. The cage's bars were cut and the prisoners were unconscious and bleeding, without first aid they would surely die and then goodbye testimonies.

" Souchirou, what we have to do?", asked Penny while her leader watched the bullheads, covered now in Jack's mist, making attacking them even more difficult. Trying to do so would be only a waste of ammos and Aura, plus they had the White Fang members to think about. They needed witness for what happened that day.

" Cure the prisoners- he sighed- we'll find Torchwick another day.".

* * *

A minutes later, while the thirteen Huntsmen were reporting to the policemen and the few Huntsmen that finally came, Ozpin was watching everything on a tablet in his office. The headmaster's worried eyes looked at every moves the three teams, plus Sun, made during the battle and then at the discussion they made for deciding how affront the new things. The overall teamwork was still a little raw, but the potential they had was undeniable. And also necessary if the girls' nature meant something. Ozpin could recognize certain signs and was sure Jack was just the first of many opponents tied very very close to the Grimm.

While he was reflecting on the events, the door opened, leaving enter of all people Medea Seaspell. Her outfit seemed a mix of scientists' classic outfit and an Huntress' cloths: a black lab blouse with an hood and some , gloves of the same color, a golden miniskirt and a blue mantle, alongside her a suitcase total in metal.

" Hello, Oz, how are you?", she asked in a polite manner, but something in her tone and on her face made very clear she wasn't at all in an happy mood. Ozpin noticed this, but went toward her with the most welcoming smile he could do and offered an hand which was taken with apparent friendship.

" All fine, Medea. How about you?" he asked trying to seem calm and normal as much possible, but no way a woman like Medea could be fooled by that behavior.

" Surely better than you. Don't give me bullcrap, I know how much the situation is worsening, Souchirou called me a few minutes ago and tell me everything.".

" Ah, he should keep at least that girl a secret.", sighed Ozpin shaking his head.

" How the protocol requires, he revealed news of vital importance to a superior, so that we can prepare adequately and revealing it on our own if necessary. To the police they said only about Roman, the White Fang and two girls very dangerous, one of which was masked. They decided to don't reveal anything about someone taming Grimm for good reason.", countered Medea a little more bitterer, crossing arms under her breast. Someone would find that view executing, but the Headmaster wasn't certainly in the mood for certain thoughts.

" Glad to hear it, we can't have the civilians panicked about this.", the scientist nodded, apparently agreeing, before switching subject.

" By the way, I met Qrow a few weeks ago. I knew already what happened to Amber, but he revealed to me a very crucial detail, and I hope he was wrong. Oz, please...- Medea's tone suddenly became much furious, and her blue Aura flared to life like a flame in the night, cracking the windows and even the floor- tell me you didn't put her INTO THE FIRST PLACE WHERE YOUR ENEMIES ARE GONNA LOOKING, ALL WITHOUTH EVEN PUTTING MORE DEFENSES OUT THERE!". The Aura outburst was simply impressive, Medea's leves were very high even for an Huntress of her caliber, and the researches she mades on the mysterious energy, made it even more dangerous. Trough Ozpin managed to stay incredibly calm, like imperturbable to that amazing show of power.

" It was the most logical location, here she better protected.", he tried to reason, thinking again that was the smartest choice for whoever Amber was. Medea trough wasn't buying any of that, and made it very clear pointing a finger at the man.

" Bullshit, your only defenses are a bunch of Huntsman in training and a few professionals, thath:1) With a few exceptions, know next to nothing about Amber, or about a lot of other things they have all the rights to know;2) They have all the rights to choose if stay or escape, possibly takin with them their companions;3) You don't have idea at all of what She's gonna send against you. If it will be too much, I've little doubts the second point will happen.".

" I've total faith in their skills and loyalty to Beacon. And Qrow should keep those informations hidden, even if you were a candidate for the mantle. By the way, is only for yell at me, that you came?". Medea's expression suddenly became cold as ice, same for her voice.

" I'm here to be sure most kids under your jurisdiction live enough to graduate, and that Amber returns to full health. I obtained by the Council the permission to modify the campus' defence as much I please, if is needed to defend students and staff alike. By the way, what defenses the caveu has?".

" Medea, I really thank you for the help, but I can assure you...", Ozpin begun before being cutten off by the scientist' s Aura rising once again, despite much less than before.

" What- defenses- in the caveu?- repeated the woman, clearly pretending an answer, but the headmaster didn't answer- there aren't, right?- asked her, sighing and shaking the head- Ozpin, you must stop with this mix of laziness and arrogance. This is the main reason we lost Summer and her daughter doesn't even fully know what she's capable of doing.".

" At the very least she doesn't depend on machines.", answered coldly Ozpin while Medea went toward the lift, clearly tired of that conversation.

" Hey, don't put me on the level of some colleagues of mine, or other officers with a stick up their asses. I don't depend on machines, I only use the best our science has to offer, to refine the potential of every Huntsman possess. Most of my friends agree with me, even Qrow. If you tought about this, instead of focusin on only four girls generation after generation, at this point we could live in peace.", concluded Medea before leaving the office for good, she wanted only to clear her sight of Ozpin for a while. He returned instead on his chiar putting an hand on his forehead. Before he could relax at least for a minute, his tablet ringed and opening it, Oz found a message for one of the people citated by Medea earlier, Qrow.

" QUEEN HAS PAWNS!".

* * *

At the same time, in a flood of Mistral, Qrow was running for his life after sending the message to Oz. The tired warrior was a man in his forties with messy black hair similar to feathers with a white line, a little beard, red eye. He was dressed with a grey and white jacket, a red mantle, and black jeans. He had a cross necklace and several rings, while his weapon of choice was a broadsword, with gears and two firearms on the hilt.

" Oz, if i escape out there alive, i'll kill you."grunted the man, jumping on a tree, hoping to finally avoid his objective... of course he was wrong. Looking behid him, he saw an arrow heading toward the tree and then exploding, sending him into the air. Trough he transformed somehow into a bird and landed into the greenish mud, then watched his enemy, a shady figure hidden by the smoke.

" Definitly your fame is well deserved, Qrow Branwen, but it won't be enought to survive.", greeted the mysterious man. He was a man just a little lower than Qrow, dressed with a black jacked adornet by a few white lines, pants of the same color and boots. He had amber eyes, white hair and his skin was exactly like Jack's. His weapon was a black bow big almost as himself, but he demonstrated he could summon at will several others weapons during the days he hunted Qrow.

" Eh, sorry, but i've things to do at home. You can bet i'll survive.", he answered transforming again and flying behind the man, exploding then in a burst of flames and sending away his opponents a couple of meters, burning also several trees, before turning human and blocking the other, now armed with two short swords, one black and one white with simbols of yin and yang on the guard.

" Mhh, combining Dust infused in your mantle and your metamorphic abilities, a good trick.", commented calm while before coming to Qrow with a burst of Aura in his legs and attacking him with a speed some Huntsmen could only dream... luckily the scythe wielder wasn't one of them. The Branwen clashed again and again with his opponent, before he managed to kick the Huntsman away. Once again he landed withouth problems on his feets and countered with a barrage of freezing bullets, transforming the mud into slyppy ice blocks and then attaccking again the humanoid Grimm, who dodged at first withouth problems, but then found one of his swords frozen and reduced in pieces.

" Thanks, is a trick i learned from a friend. By the way, would you mind telling me your name? So when we'll finish i'll know who to search for.", said the reaper cocky, but it was just a bluff. Beetween attack and defence, he had at most half of his Aura, and with the arsenal the guy showed, he wasn't sure to have a chance at running again. If those weapons were created by a semblance, it was definitly one of the most dangerous Qrow ever saw.

" You may simply call me Archer.", answered the white haired warrior creating within black sparkles a blood red lance, moving his arm to throw him directly at Qrow, to aim more precise at his heart with a swift motion thath would make death almost painless.

" Gae Bolg.".

* * *

Once again in the middle of Vale, Roman returned in one of his refugees, an abandoned warehouse, very tired and weakened, alongside Neo and Jack, who medicated the wounds still not healed by Aura.

" Ah, Jack, my little one, you're the only good thing i gained from the contract with thath witch.", commented the criminal patting the white haired with affection, but rotting inside for the lost cargo. Once again his plans ruined by thath red rascal armed with an oversized tools garden. He could only hope she was angry as him. Sadly his misfortunes wouldn't end that night

" Glad to her you say that, Roman, trough i would prefer more results.", intervened a feminine voice from the darkness. The man groaned, recognizing to who it belong.

" Oh, hello, Cinder.", he greeted before seeing the woman in her classic attire, with a boy and a girl alongside her. The former had messy gray hair, eyes of the same color and was dressed with a black and gray shirt with black pants, together with fingerless gloves. The girl was much shorter and dark skinned , with mint colored hair adorned by two tails, red eyes, she was dressed with a white corsage and behind her back were presents two pretty big guns.

" I can't believe the so called criminal mastermind of all of Vale was taken down so easily by a bunch of Huntsmen in training, especially given your enforcements.", said poisonus Cinder glaring at Roman's wounds, ignoring the looks of Neo and Jack, who taken the gun Roman made for her.

" Witch, don't try talk that way of dad.", hissed the young Grimm girl, ready if necessary to strangle the woman with her mist(possibly enchanted a little by Dust to make all much more painful).

" Don't worry, Jack, i won't to harm no one... for now.", she answered in a calm tone taking her scroll while Roman put on his feet with the cane.

" Cinder, i'm really sorry- he begun with as much sarcasm he could master- but no one told me i would be attaccked by a group so big of Huntsman with the diaper. I've my limits as well, you know. Also because two of them were in the list ' don't kill'.".

" I tought you were prepared against the unexpected.", countered Cinder, not changing her tone, but she was pratically already saying what would happen for a second failure. Roman trough smirked.

" And i tought those White Fang morons would do a better job, especially with Grimm at their side. Except Jack they're all uselless.", he commented jesturing toward the girl. In fact, since she was assigned to the orange haired thief, barely a few months ago, had taken several tasks for him and succeded in all of them

" We couldn't previde someone would discover the theft and alerted Beacon's students.", countered the brown haired woman, restraining herself to burn Roman to ashes, while another figure entered the warehouse.

" In thath case you should figure out a contingency plan, ms. Fall.", begun Leonardo Lionheart. Differently by his pubblic appereance he was dressed with a chain mail with an emblem representing a lion's head with open jaw, had an iron cross on his left wrist and clawed gauntlets, used by years to slaughter Grimm and rogues alike.

" Leo...", started Cinder, who tolerated the Headmaster just a bit more than Roman, and only because he was the main responsable for the cover of her and her two cronies, who remained still and silents, despite having pretty much the same feelings and opinion of their boss.

" Mr. Lionheart, please.", precided the faunus coming in the center of the room, very clear to claryfing his position. After all, there was a very good reason because he was named Headmaster, not only for his burocratic and teaching skills.

" Ok... mr. Lionheart. Aniway, those students learned of Jack and will refer to the authorities. Thankfully Ozpin is afraid enough for starting mass panic, which could be dangerous even for us at this point.", explained Cinder to the group.

" Right, for once his retrogradeness is useful. I told him an huntred of times to stop with all these secrets, but he really doesn't want to learn we're in the modern age.", added Lionheart with an hint of disgust in his voice, while Roman snorted.

" Yeah, yeah, Ozpin is a dumbass, understood. Now, whath he have to do?".

" We'll continue with our plan, less than a month and there will be also the White Fang's reunion.", answered Cinder with a wawing of her hand.

" And for the Vytal Festival everything must be ready, also them have to prepare... aniway the Huntsmen you meet tonight must be avoided at all costs.", added the Headmaster, pointing to Roman.

" Of course, i don't have any intention to see them again. Now, if you permit, i must rest for a while.", concluted Roman dismissing his four hosts, who went out the warehouse ignoring the bigmouths of Neo and Jack. Once in the open, Cinder turned on Haven's Headmaster.

" As you see,' mr. Lionheart', i'm keeping faith to my part of the students, your niece and her little friends will be untouched... or at least we'll be sue they don't get killed.".

" I didn't expect anything else. Salem use you as much she wants, but unlike Oz at least tells the whole truth.".

" Riiight- commented the gray haired boy- by the way, why don't you go to Beacon to see where Amber and the Relic are? The staff should trust you.".

" My presence at Vale isn't expected for this Vytal Festival, so i can't go so sudden. But i guess a room has been prepared for the former, considering Beacon's structure, finding it wouldn't be so hard. Instead, did you formulated a strategy to counter all the Huntsmen in training and professors? I highly doubt they will let themselves to be killed like nothing, even if they only try to escape, and you know no harm can be done to my students.".

" Mhh, i think the White Fang, the Grimm and every hacked mechs we will have, should suffice. And if it won't be the case, once i reclaim Amber's full power, they could only bow and die.", answered Cinder with a total demeanor of arrogance, sure of her abilities. But Leo didn't buy it and a smirk formed on his face.

" Don't think only having the power of a Maiden will permit you to submit so easily an army of Huntsmen in training. The things Amber did, they could do as well with enough Dust and control.".

" I call bullshit, nothing and no one can compete with a Maiden outside of Salem, they're the true essence of power.".countered agagin Cinder, putting her hands on the hips clearly pissed by the faunus' proclaim, who trough was very tempted to laugh remembering something that happened some years ago. He decided to tell it to his complices, so maybe they could grow a bit of humilty.

" The Winter Maiden said the same things, and once called my cousin 'jelous' of her powers. A few minutes later, we had to take her to an hospital for hang up her arm and fix a few ribs. She swore to never insult a faunus in any possible way anymore.", said not hiding his satisfaction in the act. Cinder then gritted her teeth and was on the point of the attaccking Leo, but the mint haired girl put an hand on her shoulder.

" Cinder, please, it's not worthy. Let's go.", the fire wielder sighed, before leaving with her two companions, but not before giving Leo another warning.

" Ok, Emerald, but you... don't forget your place.". The trio then disapperead into the night, with Leo returning to the little inn where he taken a room before returning to Mistral and put out from his sleeve a photo. It portraied the Nikos Orphanage with Atlanta and all her kids, including Pyrrha, in fact it was made after her first victory at the tournaument.

" Nobody will harm you, i swear on it. Ozpin already had done enough damage.".

* * *

Hi, guys, i'm really sorry for the waiting, i hope the full chapter and the fight managed to satisfy you. A lot of you kept asking for servants, and here there's two, one of them also being one of the most famous. And is only the beginning, both the reincarnated servants and the Grimm type will appear more and more in the second volume, changing a lot certain elements from the plot, stay tuned for it. I still promise lots of kickass fights and the truth about everything(sort of, let's see what RT will show further about Summer) within volume 4. Plus i think i found a new beta, Semblanceofinvisibility, she'll be 'in charge' from next chapter, i wanted to try doing this on my own. Ah, a little thing:

Now, I'm nothing short than honored that so much people favored/followed myself as an author and my story, if i'll ever manage to pubblish something else on the site, it will be my pleasure if you check my new stories as well. But, i'm also searching to improve as a writer, i'm conscius of my many flaws(laziness, bad writing more than once, lacks of descriptions and more) and i'm in search of advices and constructive critiques to eliminate my flaws and getting better. Plus, while not exactly a duty, i find keep reviewing a story i checked a very polite thing to do trough the various chapters. In short, as my friend Ander Arias(author of 'Son of the Sannin', thath is one of the best Naruto stories i know) reviews make me really, really, really happy!

All i've to see this now is good Summer to every reader. For those of you i follow i hope you'll manage to return to delight me and many other readers with your stories, meanwhile i'll try doing my best.


	6. Chapter 6: Truce

**Chapter 6**

It was a mere few days following the altercation at the docks and Sun was hiding behind a column, handling his scroll. He and Emil knew they were to contact their teacher every week, so long as inconvenience didn't occur. At the moment the wolf faunus was training with the rest of Team SESP, so Sun was providing also his part of the information.

" Gramps, are you there?" asked the blonde faunus after assuring no one was around to eavesdrop.

Such happening would still be unlikely, also because the Assassins had created their own network, separated by the towers which made it very hard for anyone to intercept it.

" I'm here, Sun. Any news?" asked the voice of King Hassan from the other side.

" Lionheart has been pretty normal in the last period. But the other news is really, really bad. White Fang members are beginning to bond with Grimm. I fought them just a few days ago at Vale's docks. After beating them a girl appeared, she... she seemed a Grimm herself. Do you think the witch finally managed to make those experiments?" asked Sun, scared as hell before hearing a curse into a language he didn't know.

" Who else saw her?", asked Hassan after calming himself.

" Emil's team, that of Siegfried's son and the one with Blake Belladonna. Souichiro convened the truth to his mother, who probably referred it as well to Beacon's staff. Except this…we all decided to not tell anyone to avoid panic."

" Good decision. How is it going with your teams?"

" Emil seems adjusted enough with his team, and mine functions just as good...well, I admit we can be a little too carefree sometimes. My teammates are a little odd, but so far as my lessons worked well for them. They should arrive within the week. Meanwhile, I'm writing a training program. Your business, master?"

" I saved Qrow Branwen by...we can define him a colleague of the girl you meet. Now I'm searching his tribe."

The student of Haven assumed an expression of pure disgust. He had a few particularly nasty meetings with the Branwen tribe, from which Qrow had escaped, and he hated all of them. Even Vacuo's bandits were a bit better in his opinion, since at the very least the protected the villages that paid them and didn't rape ( not so much at least, compared to the past centuries). The tribe of Mistral, instead, did not give a shit about human lives and they simply attacked as many villages they could while avoiding Huntsmen as much possible. They killed and raped without distinction unless they attempted to put someone forcefully within their ranks before their departure. In short, a bunch of psychos who were just as bad, if not worse than the White Fang, and didn't even care to insert into modern societies at all.

" So is the Spring bitch still around?".

" Yeah, the idiocies of humans and faunus are infinite, but now she has just twenty men or so to be generous. I doubt she'll escape me for still long."

" Best of luck then, gramps. Any other orders?"

" Train. Protect your team. Keep an eye to the situation at Vale. Vlad and Iskandar should arrive soon. If something really, really weird happens, you and Emil must refer to them."

" Got it," answered the faunus before closing the call.

The monkey faunus certainly trusted his teacher and all of his companions. He was sure they could make it out of whatever the White Fang and their puppeteers were planning, but yet he couldn't shake the feeling something terrible bad would happen regardless.

* * *

Ruby and Yang were directed towards Ozpin's office, the man whom had called them in the middle of a training session for all of RWBY.

" What do you think he wants from us?" asked Ruby.

Yang made a weird expression while humming a bit.

" I don't know, but if he asks about the glue bomb in the toilet, we aren't responsible." she answered, leaving her sister, who sighed in slight exasperation, completely dumfounded.

" Okay, Yang." answered the young leader as the door opened and the Headmaster, with an expression of almost surprising calm, greeted them.

" Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long, sorry for interrupting your training, but I received a new set of information regarding someone with whom you're very close."

" What happened?" asked Ruby, concern lacing her voice as she listened to Ozpin.

" Your uncle Qrow was wounded during a mission. He will have to spend a few weeks in the hospital of Mistral where they're treating him." explained the man, with an anticipated, horrified reaction in the girls.

" WHAT?!" yelled Ruby, terrified to what could happen to the man who was both her teacher and a second father.

" Who was to do it?!" Yang demanded, activating her semblance by accident in her emotion whilst her aura transformed into golden flames with her eyes the color of blood.

" Your uncle was in search of a dangerous criminal, but he found him first...after Qrow fought an enormous pack of Grimm. Luckily, another huntsman Qrow knew was near and rescued him, defeating the enemy and taking your uncle to the nearest hospital." explained the man as calmly as he could, hoping to reassure them.

The duo relaxed, thanking Oum things would turn fine.

" Thanks for informing us, Professor Ozpin. Is possible going to see him during our holidays?" Ruby asked, praying her uncle would be alright.

" Of course. It is, after all, your right. This is the hospital's address, and I already informed Tai."

* * *

Despite the tumult felt by Ruby and Yang, the day was continuing as normal for Weiss and Blake, who kept sparring just as their leader ordered. The training rooms had to been pre-noted, according to Professor Goodwitch, who was adamant about the timing. Yes, students could always go training in the gym or in the forests around Beacon, but certain things still required lots of space, privacy and, most of all, safety.

The two girls were, for now, showing their swordsmanship skills against each other in a long series of slashes. Weiss was probably faster at that than her teammates, but Blake didn't lack of options within fights. She created a clone to avoid a slash, and countered them with a barrage of bullets.

" You should use something stronger to defeat me, Blake." commented Weiss blocking the attack with a simple Glyph.

Still, the faunus had what she needed to compete. She transformed Gambol Shroud into its kusarigama form and swung it several times against the Schnee. However, Weiss was now covered in protection Glyphs. The weapon clashed again and again against them, but they never ceased rotating until Weiss was able to counter. Igniting Myrtenaster into flames, she run toward her teammate with an acceleration Glyph and tried to stab her. Blake managed to block the attack using the sheath of her sword, but a rapid pulse of Aura through the rapier transformed the previous attack into an huge explosion. Slammed against the wall, Blake used a powerful Aura slash to attack the heiress, who countered with a series of blue lasers.

" I see I'm not the only one training like an obsessessed today." said a new voice suddenly as Pyrrha entered. She seemed a little more tired than usual with an awkward smile. The monochrome duo anyway stopped the fight to greet their friend.

" Hi, Pyrrha. What do you mean?" asked Weiss to the amazon, who wasn't at all new to hellish training, so far as she knew, both from Atlanta and from Lionheart. The girl's expression suddenly became much more ironic while she started laughing, worrying her two schoolmates.

" Ask Ren. He had the glamorous idea of making a coordinate number for the dance. Jaune and I agreed despite Nora's insistence. And I thought my mom and my uncle were slavers." she said between a laugh with the others before touching her pained back.

" Ren? Mister 'I'm always calm as a lake'?" Blake sent her a dubious look.

Ren was definitely a good Huntsman and student but was sort of lazy. Not in the way that one who constantly slept in class or similar was, but he almost never took the lead in battle and mostly followed Jaune's order, despite not lacking of giving him advices based on the experiences alongside Nora in Mistral's wild zones, and certain times proved to don't have so much stamina.

" Yeah, when it comes to dance, he's pretty much a tyrant. I escaped only thanks to Jaune and Nora." admitted the redhead with a little fright of her shoulders. Even the Valkyrie, despite living and fighting years alongside Ren, could barely stand him in that state.

" It can't be worse than the team talk we all had after the battle." commented Weiss, biting her tongue instead of finished talking. She didn't really want to admit that in front of Blake, but it had just slipped. The cat faunus though didn't seem offended at all.

" Oh, so that was the constant noise I heard when I woke up to go the bathroom." said Pyrrha.

" Yep, Ruby was pissed with how I charged Roman without even waiting for orders. Yang was upset that I didn't tell them everything."

" I was...a mix of both, just at an even higher level, given my history with the White Fang. But as long you don't do these stunts again without consulting us.,We'll be okay, Blake." Weiss said, setting a hand on Blake's shoulder.

To be truthful, the raven-haired Huntress had also confessed to her relationship with Vlad Drakul, which was the reason she went so near to RWY at the beginning of the year, but they decided not to say it to Pyrrha.

" Thanks, Weiss. I don't have any words for how much I appreciate it."

" By the way, any news on Sun and Emil?" Pyrrha asked.

" Emil is training with his team. They should be a few rooms down from here," Weiss replied, while checking Myrtenaster's Dust chamber. "Although, I didn't see Sun last night after our battle."

" Hmm…that's weird. He said his team should still arrive." noted Blake, recalling the conversation they had before returning to Beacon with her tone showing just a little of suspiciousness.

He had been pretty gentle with her, one could say they were flirting, but so far as he kept himself to being more like an older brother to her and wished her best of luck to fix things with Ruby and the others. Weiss trough huffed in annoyance.

" Blake, please, don't tell me you believed his stupid joke. I saw their skills with my own eyes against that girl…Neo, if 'm not wrong. They're pretty much monsters in their own right, but there is no way he was trained by the man who had killed Merlot and that now is Oum know here". she said, remembering very well how King Hassan made himself know to all of Remnant. He had beheaded the director of Merlot Industries in front of all of Mountain Glenn from the skyscraper when most of his activities taken place.

Before killing him, the huge assassin had recounted all of Merlot's crimes against the people of Remnant( proved then by several datas sent to most of Remnant's digital archives). Experiments with Grimm, for one... which in a way would be logical, given how little was know about those monsters, the problem was another. Merlot was completely obsessed with the creatures that plagued his world for ages to the point of considering them superior both to human and faunus. He started not only to make them even stronger than natural Grimm, but tried to attract more and more monsters to the city only to continue his twisted studies.

It would probably end into a tragedy if Hassan didn't put an end to his madness. After that, the number of Grimm around Mountain Glenn dwindled more and more. Some say that Hassan, knowing what the negativity created by Merlot's work could cause, put himself in the service in the city until they got more defenses.

Such was to permit the city to fortify itself, hire more Huntsmen and build radar for their underground railways, which connected directly to Vale, to avoid all tunnels of Grimm without many problems. So, today, Mountain Glenn was, perhaps, one of the very few examples of a Kingdom's true expansion outside of villages. Though, King Hassan continued with his work – killing rogue huntsmen, criminals, slavers, and others who hid their dirty work behind a public face of sincerity apart from, of course, whoever he was paid to kill. As long as the objective was within his standard, he was willing for the job and rumors insisted he was recruiting more and more disciples, which worried most of Remnant's high- tiers. Despite everything, Blake reassured quickly the heiress.

" Oh, don't worry, Weiss, I'm not a conspiracist or any like that. I was just wondering. I don't believe in any of those stupid theories about King Hassan, like him being the son of that old Huntress…the Grimm Reaper(1) or whatever she was called. You have to be really stupid to think that's true." she said with a wave of her hand.

" Very well…now that point is dealt with…do you mind if I join you for a little?" Pyrrha asked, taking her weapons.

* * *

While Beacon's students were training for their next missions, Mercury and Emerald were taking a walk into Vale's center, until they found a library with the insignia "Tukson: all the books under the sun". The latter would have glady taken some wallets, but the streets were next to empty, which worried the duo. Not enought to forget their actual mission, of course, otherwise Cinder would never choose them.

" This is the place?" asked the albino.

" Yeah. Let's hurry." answered the green haired girl, opening the door to find the biggest mess she had ever seen.

Books were everywhere, and several cases were still open. From the back suddenly came a highly muscular man with black hair and yellow eyes; at the moment, he was preoccupied with a very tall pile of books.

" Welcome to Tukson's: home to every book under the sun," he greeted friendlily to the two apparent customers. "I apologize for the disorder. I'm planning a disinfestation and I still didn't fix all of it. Anyway, say what you wish, and I'll try to satisfy you."

Mercury began to try and find some comics while Emerald went to the counter.

" Do you have' The Thief and the Butcher'?" the mint haired girl asked while the man was giving her his best smile.

" Of course."

"T he garden of Violet?" she asked.

For a moment, she thought she had seen a strange, moving figure behind certain books but decided it was her imagination.

" All the cover versions you wish." answered again Tukson, taking in hand some little object from within a drawer and slipping it into his pocked.

" The Third Crusade?" Emerald questioned, her tone losing its innocent edge.

Mercury, recognizing the signal, smirked and closed the blinds. Within the darkness that now covered them, he saw something just as his partner had, but dismissed it. The only thing that mattered was their actual charge, who had now a much-worried expression.

" I'm afraid not." he said.

" What was this place called?" Emerald smirked, while a Dust chamber rotated within the darkness without her noticing.

" Tukson's: home of all the books under the sun." the black-haired man sighed.

" Except the Third Crusade."

" It's just a catchphrase." excused Tukson putting his hand to his chest.

" It's false advertising," accused Mercury. "You shouldn't promise things you can't maintain…like the White Fang."

" So," Emerald said with a smirk. " Do you know who we are?"

" Yes."

" Do you know why we are here?"

" Yes."

" Do you want to fight?", the man this time assumed a smirk not unlike that Mercury assumed few second before. That of a killer.

" YES!"

The faunus roared, releasing a set of claws on each hand, channeling his Aura within them to shoot a powerful slash toward the two teenagers. Emerald managed to dodge just in time, while Mercury had to block with his legs. For a few seconds the energy attack and his leg clashed trying to overpower each other, until it was too much, and the grey-haired boy managed to deflect it to the ceiling though there was now a cut on his trousers, revealing steel in the place of flesh.

" What…the…actual…fuck…" Mercury breathed heavily, surprised by Tukson's strength which was pretty much on par with a third year Huntsman in training. " Hey! Weren't you only a simple soldier?!"

"Oh, I was, and I am a soldier, but not of the White Fang and I'm definitely not simple. Ilia!" Tukson called and the mysterious presence from before revealed itself.

She was a pretty girl of about seventeen years with brown hair similar to a chameleon's tail., armed with a metallic whip with a Dust chamber within it. She was dressed in a white uniform with a few yellowed protections on shoulders and the chest. In the center, there was a symbol that resembled a certain island. Both Emerald and Mercury jumped upon seeing it.

" The uniform of Menagerie's army?! So, you..." Emerald gritted her teeth before pulling out two green revolvers.

" Exactly, all this time I was a spy for general Vlad. And we will give you to him once we're finished." Tukson said, taking a few rings with Dust crystals and igniting his natural weapons in brilliant flames.

" Do you want to escape? I want to see you try." said the girl beside Tukson with a cocky tone, pointing her weapon at the duo.

While they were sure they could win, the strength of a single Menagerie soldier was considered to be almost on par, if not superior, to an Atlas specialist, and it was better not run the risk.

Emerald opened the door as fast she could, only to be welcomed by a barrage of guns, rifles, bazookas and more. The wielder of said weapons were a mix of Vale's SWAT team, and other faunus with a uniform a bit more complex and with more protection than that of Ilia's. All of them were concentrated on Emerald and Mercury, but both sides completely still.

" You're in arrest for attempted murder of an ambassador from Menagerie– always Tukson – and criminal association with Roman Torchwick and Adam Taurus. Surrender now and no harm with will be done to you. If you oppose us, we'll have to answer with fire." said one of the SWAT team members, aiming his sniper rifle on Mercury's forehead.

 _Fuck you, Torchwick._ Emerald thought, reaching for one of her pockets. _We have only one way to escape._

As fast as possible, the girl reached for a pink sphere in her pockets and, before everyone could start shooting, she slammed it into the ground and enveloped herself and Mercury in a monochromatic nebula. When both the human and faunus could see again something they were completely gone.

" Damn it!" Tukson exclaimed to his companions. " They pulled a…ninja trick on us. Start searching, they can't be that far away!"

The others nodded and started searching alongside Vale's police force.

" Was that her semblance?" Ilia asked, looking to Tukson from within the shop.

She was sent by Vlad himself alongside several of her companions after almost all of his spies in Vale's sector of the White Fang started to escape from the organization. They all reported, once they were safe, of the deal Adam had made with several humans. Vlad wasn't stupid, and he knew both how certain plans could wind up and how Adam himself acted. Before or after, to avoid opposition and to give an example, he would execute the members who tried escaping. He ordered Tukson to remain in his position and diffuse the rumor he would leave. Then the bat faunus had contacted Vale's police department to trap whoever was sent to kill the puma faunus to obtain information. Weeks of waiting, and it would have worked if it weren't for that.

" I don't know, Ilia. I... didn't feel any Aura into what the girl used, even most kind of Dust should have a bit of it to work."

* * *

While the faunus soldier was trying to understand what truly happened, his attempted murderers were in the same warehouse Roman hidden a few days earlier, receveing a really bad rebuke from their boss.

" DID THEY DISCOVER YOU?!", yelled Cinder at her two cronies, angry as they never saw her before. Her eyes were like a vulcano ready to explode.

" Cinder, we're sorry, but if someone did his job back in time... ", Emerald tried to calm her pointing to Torchwick. And technically she was right, killing Tukson and other members of the White Fang who were leaving was another of his several tasks.

" And I'd be sorry if I hadn't to do more pressing jobs." Roman replied acidly, gesturing to the containers within the building, all full of Dust, in a theatrical manner.

" Hmm…now I understand why the bitch summoned us." another figure remarked from within the warehouse, attempting to place certain cards with odd symbols on said containers. He was a pretty feminine boy, more or less of Emerald's age, and was wearing a black armor with a sort of skirt and had messy hair put into a braid, as well as a cute and soft face that was ruined by a skin just like that of Jack. The same went for his eyes. He had a tournament spear and a sword on his belt.

" To think she called Me only because her underlings couldn't do the job by themselves." another voice said, revealing its owner to the light of lamps. He was a man of twenty-five-years more or less, dressed in heavy black armor which was decorated with heavy shoulders pads and emphasized his short spiky hair. Just as the other, he seemed to be like a Grimm.

" Oh, shut up, Gilgamesh! And hurry up to transport these containers into the Bounded Field." Cinder snapped at him, still enraged by the failure of Emerald and Mercury. Really bad mistake, in a second it was like the temperature of the room dropped directly to zero before rising once again for the man's Aura, while several portals black and red appeared alongside him like a nightmare coming to life.

" Do you dare order Me around, you half witch?" snapped back the cold warrior while all of them could feel his immense power and were trembling like children.

" P…please, forgive us, your majesty. We didn't want to offend you at all." pleaded Mercury in sheer terror.

He was the arrogant type, but he could recognize a power way too superior to himself and Gilgamesh probably would be capable to reduce a monster like Cinder into fragments. The woman herself was a bit sorry to have insulted him for a moment of justified anger. In all, the humanoid Grimm retreated his portals and everyone could breathe once again.

" For this time…you have My forgiveness, but don't challenge luck again." He said simply with a tone of hidden threat.

" Oh, c'mon, lord Gilgamesh, show a bit of mercy." The other boy said, stepping closer to him and making an uncomfortable but cute form of puppy eyes. Emerald watched the scene confused; she still didn't understand how the hell Astolfo could be a boy. Regardless, she sent him a look of mute gratitude.

" Anyway…" Cinder started; glad the situation was solved. " Now, Neo and I need two new teammates. Astolfo can be one of them, but Jack could never pass as one. Gilgamesh?" she tried, but the warrior's expression was a clear indication he would never take a role in that play.

" So, you'll have to summon another of these half grimm? Hmm. I hope she'll at least be as cute and kind as Jack…between them, she's the only one truly decent." Roman remarked dryly, before looking in slight terror at Gilgamesh. "But still not at your level, King of Heroes."

" I hate to admit it, Roman, but you're right. I'll contact lady Salem to have another servant come. Luckily this ain't a bad time. Meanwhile, you'll have to focus on phase 2." Cinder smirked, gaining a rapid nod from Roman, while Astolfo and Gilgamesh went far from the little group talking between them.

" Do you really intend to help that witch, Astolfo?!" demanded the so-called King, still irritated by his forced servitude to Cinder and the other seeming mongrels.

Such masters were unbefitting of the great Gilgamesh, but, at the very least, they knew their place when necessary. Astolfo answered with a huge sigh.

" Have we any choice? Whatever Salem did to us is even worse than command spell." He groaned, stretching his arms out as if he were gesticulating towards his whole appearance.

He was totally corrupted when compared to the proud paladin he once was. If he could, Astolfo would go directly to Beacon to give Ozpin the plans of his slavers, but their orders were fixed into his very soul. The other grimm roared again, clenching his fist.

" Well, that bitch will soon discover what happens to those," He said as he started towards his room, obliuvsly the most luxurious within the palace. "Those that dare put Me under their command unless I'm the first to permit it."

What he did not say, though( even then Astolfo could easily figure it out, having similar plans), was that he was plotting his revenge against the woman who had enslaved him.

* * *

(1) No, King Hassan isn't Maria's son, is only a voice and in general i decided to don't say anything about his true identity on Remnant. Trough, if you ask how Blake knows a forgotten Huntress like Maria, is in fact for that rumor about her supposed child. By the way, of course King Hassan, while mostly works to clean Remnant from rotten assholes, is still considered by the official law as any other paid killer, in short a criminal. Think of him and his disciples as the sect of shadows from Batman, but a little less extremist.

* * *

Hello to everyone, glad to return here so soon and most on all to welcome officially SemblanceOfInvsibility as the beta, kudos to her. I hope the chapter satisfied you, despite its many flaws.

As promised more and more Servant will start to appear, next chapter we'll also discover how Salem obtained them and a little about their abilities. As i said, this is pretty much an Au, so at least in term of power our favorite Grimm Queen will be pretty different. While we work on the new chapter, tell me what you liked or didn't like, i'll do my best to improve my style and decide for next events(which are already written until the end of Slayers, that will be for certain charachters in a little more original direction).

Best of luck with the last weeks of school, as always i hope those of you i follow will be able to return this Summer.


	7. Chapter 7: Recruiting

Chapter 7: Recruiting

A wounded pride may be the least comprehensible thing of all. Qrow was regarded as one of the best huntsmen in his generation, and, yet, he was recovering in a small Mistrali village with the beating of his life still torturing him. Perhaps the normalcy of the village was getting under his skin, or perhaps it was himself, but, nevertheless, he could not sleep as he wished. He hoped his colleague and friend would arrive soon; the man felt he had been through enough, what with a broken arm and a broken pride. He had not even a drink to numb himself in as he usually did. It was, hence, a great relief when the door opened and the man he had known for over two decades stepped into the room.

"Feelin' any better, Qrow?" asked the newcomer.

" Hi,Tai. A bit, but you know that it would be better with some brandy." the Huntsman replied to his brother in law.

Taiyang Xiao Long was a very tall and muscular man, with his skin slightly tanned, a soul patch, dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, with a tattoo on his right arm. With a faint smirk, he pulled out a beer and passed it to Qrow.

"I hope it's enough." He said, chuckling.

"Tai, remind me to hail you as a saint." Qrow remarked, finishing all the drink in one shot. He really had needed that.

"Right…" He said, rubbing his neck. "I deserve sainthood but not information on what the hell actually happened to you."He had never been the team leader for STRQ and didn't carry that stress, but the markings of age cling to him in the sense that he had raised not only two hyperactive girls but, in some cases, Qrow himself.

"Do ya really want to know?" the black haired Huntsman asked, more worried now.

The memory was still burned into his mind in harsh terms: a lance which had meant to be unavoidable and unblockable had aimed at his head. Still, it only failed as a result of the thing he hated most in the entire world. The lance wielder, seeing the failure, decided to complete the job with more simple tools, and right in that moment the most incredible of angels came in to save Qrow.

Well, more a devil than an angel.

"I won't leave this room until I get the truth." Tai said with an almost uncharacteristic sharpness to his voice.

"Not changin', Tai? Fine... I was fighting a sort of...humanoid Grimm that tracked me for days. Somehow he could summon any kind of weapon against me. I survived the last attack by nothing short of a miracle. Then King Hassan apperead making that guy, Archer, escape. Thank God I weakened him enough." Qrow spoke rapidly, ignoring the trembling in fingers and the fear that still lingered at his heart, like a predator waiting for his prey to quite its cave. Archer...he had never met someone so terryfing and powerful in his life, apart from — maybe — Salem herself.

"He's still fixated on making you his successor, right hand man, or whatever it is?" Tai referred to King Hassan, ignoring for the moment the tought of humanoid Grimms. Outside of one exception, as far he knew for most of his life, they didn't exist at all and if even just one of them was enough to put Qrow in this state, then they were in for a weeks full of nightmares.

"Yeah, I asked him why he doesn't just take one from his sect. But he gave a...speech, for lack of a better term, almost as confusing as the ones Oz does. He claimed all of his disciples deserve the title, but no one of them actually need it."

Tai slapped a hand to his face in exasperation. Why the hell did his family always have to attract the most dangerous and powerful people in the world?

"You can't accept. He might be able to tell us that...thing about Raven, but I don't trust him at all." The Xiao Long patriarch finally said, although his voice didn't imply any kind of discussion—much less the one the one they were having.

The blonde warrior already lost too many of the people he cared about in the fucking war that plagued Remnant in the shadows. He would sooner be damned than let Ruby and Yang would be consumed as well by it.

"I know, Tai. I don't trust him much either. Still, recently, he's gotten a lot more results than Oz." Qrow remarked.

He may have worked for the Headmasters in the secret war they were fighting for years, but he couldn't notice to see how Ozpin kept their enemies merely at bay for years. This had been highlighted by the death of Summer Rose.

"Qrow, remember what we promised..." Tai said firmly as possible, resuming a conversation they had already gone through for seemingly infinite times, and would probably repeat in the future. A talk that always involved tons of upsetting memories, broken hopes, and secrets with buried promises most men wouldn't make in a lifetime.

"One of our vows has already been broken. Whether we wanted it or not, Ruby and Yang were dragged into this war from the moment they chose to become Huntress." Qrow countered: it was upsetting as hell, but, nevertheless, correct.

Yang's goal was to travel the world. Ruby wanted to help people. The two brothers in law tried to convince the girl to do so by to other careers, presenting them friends that did so with means different by fighting, buying them books of several kinds, explaining the job's dangers and more. But nothing swayed them differently. Summer Rose's trace and Raven's ghost weren't things that could be erased that easily. In thier own ways, they influenced the girls to the point the choice was pretty much made from the moment they were born. Ruby and Yang would become Huntress, no matter what, and since neither Tai or Qrow could deny their dream, they just trained them at the best they could. Tai sighed in defeat.

"Do you think... should we also break the other vow?"

"No, I will never be able to do it. How the hell could I face Ruby if she knew I'm responsible for what happened?" answered the man, taking his little cross in hand and trying to look away from Tai.

"Qrow, shit happens before your semblance could be doing a mess. And with that little gift from Medea, you could stay with us without accidents happening every week like at Beacon."

" I...ah, after Vytal Festival, okay?" Qrow said, resigned to his fate.

"Ok, let's see tomorrow. Good night." Tai left the room and returned to the girls. They thought he was still at the inn, but he needed to figure out a few things with Qrow without them to listen in.

* * *

It would have been a normal night, almost boring, in Beacon's dorm for foreign students, if it weren't for the nearly violent argument in team SESP's room caused by the attitude of a particular member. The room, decorated just with a few photos and a little altar for Emil — who, like most faunus, practiced the worship of his ancestors — was disturbed by the discussion began almost an hour ago.

"Ciel, I'll give you the place of second in command once you manage to correct this attitude, listen to my orders when necessary, and talk with all of us. Oh, and, do us all a favor, become much stronger." The leader was firm, almost to the point of losing his patience. Luckily several years of dealing with the antics of Medea and several...rather eccentric scientists, gave Shouchiro the ability to take a lot.

"I'm already doing it!" shouted Ciel at the snake faunus since she — even if without the ability to snag the position of leader — wanted at least the position of vice, which had been given to Emil. In most cases, albeit unofficial in all Accademies, the role was given to the leaders' partner with a few exception. The dark skinned soldier wanted to be one of them. Meanwhile, Penny was on the bed trying to read and listening to some music, though they all knew she was listening everything and was quite upset by it. She only wanted a team with people that get along and could work together. Hell, she talked with several other students from Atlas and now the foreign Academies more than her own partner. How things could go that wrong?

Emil was trying to practice some kata near his bed, an hand on his side for defense, while the other moved into the air, striking sometime invisible foes. While not personally interested into the role for himself, he would never leave the charge of leading the team in Souchiro's absence to someone who cared more for her own glory than their safety. It was in case like these he missed the Assassins.

"Bullshit. Not even five hours ago you went against that BK Souchiro ordered you to not fight, not even having the firepower you needed. And also while Penny was surrounded," He reminded the girl. They went for a last training hunt that week, before putting all of themselves into study for a few exams, and it almost became a mess just from that stupid stunt by Ciel.

"She would've survive without a wound; you only needed to hit that Grimm's head while I kept him busy. And it would've taken a lot less time if Souchiro decided to use his semblance. Probably, at this point, he barely knows how to use it." Ciel snipped with her usual arrogance. In answer, the Huntsman in training bit his lip.

"Only because I don't use it much for safety reasons. That doesn't mean I don't know how to use it. Especially if it's to discipline someone." He stated while the girl looked again at Emil, who was pretty pissed now.

"And it's coincidence you gave the title of vice to another faunus?"

"It's not my fault we crashed into each other during initiation." He said, while Penny sighed.

"Can't you talk about this after the tornaument?" She asked hopefully.

"No, we've gotta decide it now. With a duel maybe. Are you in on it, Emil?"

"If it's to teach Miss Perfection a bit of humilty, you have my tonfas." the martial artist replied, cracking his neck.

A few minutes later they were in front of the closets where their weapons lay, and another acquaintance of theirs was present as well, busied with checking an electric meter.

"Oh, hi, guys. Some late training?" Medea asked, going towards the team, who greeted her.

"A little duel beetween Emil and Ciel, mom. What are you doing?"

"Vale's council asked me to augment some of Beacon's defense systems before the festival. Even withot problems fundamentally, they think is time to modernize and asked, of course, for it to be done by the best of the best. I was checking the electric system to be sure of not causing trouble. Tomorrow we will begin." The lilac haired woman answered.

Of course, it was just a part of the truth. She was the first to convince the Council of such measures being necessary, saying it was needed for the always more daring actions of the White Fang and several Grimm packs groving in size. While there was more behind it, the official reasons were more than enough to ensure the scientist a small budget for paying both the materials and the workers.

"Understood, Miss Seaspell. Do you want to see?" asked Emil, whom of course respected the woman for her discoveries (which were time and time again useful to King Hassan and his students) and her power.

"Sure!" She chirped, more than willing to see someone trained by the first and greatest Old man of the mountain at work.

* * *

The Throne of Heroes was a place of eternal rest, inhabited only by the souls whose names were written in history, sinners and saints alike. It was a place that transcends human comprehension; a dimension of beauty where everything was enlighted with glory and greatness although both were dependent upon the individual. Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, ex best fighter of the knights of Fianna, was one of the many residents within this dimension, and sometimes a part of him was summoned in the world of living, creating a smaller copy called Servant. A common practice, especially when it came to the Holy Grail War.

Said battle was a ritual where seven mages, called masters, summoned as many servants to battle each other. The couple of winner could obtain the Grail and furfill their wishes. But most of the time it was a fraudulent practice, as even when the Grail was devoid of corruption, it was much darker than any legend could ever tell. Better not talk about all the dirty tricks and tactis certain contenteders were willing to use, often putting at risk an entire population.

Still, Diarmuid could consider himself almost lucky overall. Several of his collegues finished with masters totally incapable as strategist or downright abusive (and given the legends of certain Heroic Spirits this was a recipe for disaster) while the magus he was most often summoned to work with had just a little too much arrogance for his own good and lacked of sense of practice. It was by a lot of time (even if time didn't exist in the throne) that the Irish warrior was or was not summoned and, for now, he was just trying to enjoy the representation of his own legend until that moment.

He felt a sort of grip and a part of his essence was taken by his spirit to be summoned once again in the world of living. In a few minutes he apperead in a cloud of smoke with his old appereance: he apperead like a beatiful knight with black hair, an armour of the same colour to protect chest and stomach despite showing clearly shoulders and his muscular arms, both of which wielded a lance, red in the right and gold in the left. The only thing he saw, at the moment, was a shady figure that he went toward.

" I ask you, are you my master?" He demanded, curious to see who called him again for the glory of battle.

"Indeed I am, noble warrior. May I know your name?" answered a sensual voice of woman before the she revealed herself to the servant, who gasped. His new master was a woman in her thirties with a dress black as the night, with a beatiful visage put into a welcoming smile and all curves in the right places, but the rest of his appereance was nothing short that creepy. Her eyes had a black sclera and red iris, while her skin and her hair, similar to a spider, were completely white if not for black lines.

He could feel that her power was simply enormous. It reminded Diarmuid of the strongest evil Servants he faced in the past. Yet if she possessed the command spells, Diarmuid was still meant to obey her. He thought that she was probably an artificial human, an homunculus, poorly created by her maker and with an affinity with darkness. Not necesserily evil then, or at least he hoped so. Praying for the best case scenario, he bowed and put his weapons to the floor.

" I'm Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, ancient members of the Knights of Fianna, my lady. Your name?" he asked with the same manners as he used with the queens of the past.

" My name is Salem, queen of Grimm," She said imperiously and with an elegant flick of her wrist. "Come with me, I'll show you your new tasks."

In that moment the smoke completely disapperead and Diarmuid could finally see the place where he was summoned. It was a large room with red walls and purple drapes to the windows. Worry begun to surface in the warrior's soul, furthered by the fact he still hadn't received any information about this age, which was another effect of servant's relationship to the Holy Grail. And by the time he had left from that place, he was pretty sure he had finished into a complete nightmare.

Earth and sky were the same color as Salem's castle, with black crystals everywhere, half of the moon was shattered and horrible beasts were all around. Mostly they resembled normal animals, but their fur, scales, or feathers were completely black, had yellow and white bones on their entire bodies, and their power felt very similar to that of Salem.

"My master, what are those creatures? Did you call me to destroy them?" Diarmuid asked raising his weapons, while Salem gave him a very amusing smile.

"No, Diarmuid, I called you to command them. But for this you have to become like them." she said, pointing her finger at a black pool where an huge bear was emerging. In answer Diarmuid assumed his battle position, having lost every sort of trust in that woman.

"For what reason?"

"My dear knight, life is a cancer that affects the world by having too much time. I'm trying to clean the world by its filth. And I need your help for this." she explained going around the pool and petting the new creature. Despite her appereance and her intentions, she spoke with an almost sweet tone, and all her movements were full of grace. That woman, whatever or whoever she was, had definitly perfected her ability to attract, seduce and manipulate people for years, but Diarmuid Ua Duibhne was another matter.

"Then not even all the command spells in the world will obblige me to follow your orders. Defend yourself!"

The man went to attack with an amazing speed to hit Salem with his golden spear, Gáe Buidhe, which should create wounds impossible to heal. The shockwawe created by the attack was enough to send several misfortunate monsters in the air and even destroy the weaker, as well as creating an enormous dust cloud. Sadly for Diarmuid, when this dissipated, the only think he could see was Salem's arm rised to block the man's weapon, absolutely no damage could be seen on her.

The knight didn't give up, however, and with impressive speed, kept trying to hit his master with both spears, but Salem either blocked them with her bare hands or created solid shadows beneath her dress which made every attack essentially futile. Neither of them were willing to give in, and the fury of their flurried attacks and parries only continued in the form of a perverse dance of the death. He swung at her with fervour, hoping to destroy her, but remained incapable whilst she exerted only a bit of effort. He grew tired, his limbs aching, but continued against her for so long as he could. This was not much longer, as after a few minutes more of this, she managed to grab Diarmuid by the neck and pulled him in front of her face.

"This is all the great leader of the Knights of Fianna can do? I expected a lot more." she remarked, devoid of emotions before putting an hand on his stomach and sending a pulse of Aura which sent him to the castle's walls. Before Diarmuid could even get up, a telekinetic grip taken him again.

"I... won't follow... your orders." he rasped, before the woman could put him on the pool of black liquid.

" I know you won't follow my orders, but i've measures for it.." she simply said before letting him go and giving him the greatest suffer he could think of.

The liquid entered in every pore of Diarmuid's body, not only burning like boiling tar, but also ripping his skin and organs at the same time. And it wasn't even the worst. He could feel something hitting and grabbing costantly his soul, as if it were making it into pieces and then putting it together again. After minutes that seemed infinite, Diarmuid finally managed to return to the shore and escape that hell, but there awaited him the worst shock since he had been summoned. His skin turned exactly like that of Salem, and taking a lock of his hair, he noticed the same happened to it.

"W...what did you do to me, goddamn witch?" he yelled in despair. Normally, the knight was the purest gentleman that could be thought of with every kind of woman, but with his own nature being twisted that way, all well manners were thrown aside. He tried to summon his lance, but a black thunder created by Salem hit it faster than he could ever react. And that made him realize what he was facing: with Diarmuid's level of magical resistance, only very powerful spells could wound him, and that magic was maybe on par with Casters coming by the Age of Gods, if not even stronger.

"I transformed you into a general of the army of Grimm. I can assure you the thing has its benefits, now your body isn't simply a mass of mana, but is made of flesh and bones...plus you possess the power used by the inhabitants of this world…Aura. With it, you don't exactly need me to use your power or even remain into the material world. Still you have a task to fullfill."

"So, you gave me the tools to remain here as much I want, but I still need to obey you?" He snapped, horrified by the abomination he now was. For a moment, he was sure another magical attack would strike him, but Salem kept still and silent, before laughing.

"Not only me, my dear knight. For now one of my subordinates will take you to a city where they're orchestrating a plan alongside other Servants. They will explain you everything."

With that, the witch returned to her palace elegant as always, while her new puppet broken the ground and screamed to the adverse destiny all while a perfect smirk graced her lips.

* * *

Anguished as Diarmuid was in the Queen's domain, that feeling was not held by a certain, little red bolt in Mistral who was about to see (read: torture) her favourite relative.

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shrieked in excitement, running to embrace said Huntsman who squealed in pain.

"Calm down, shortstack. I'm still patched up." he said, chuckling and pushing her back a little.

"Understand, uncle Qrow that when Oz told us what happened we were worried sick." Yang remarked while filming everything for the amusement of Blake and Weiss.

"Hey, Qrow." Tai said, pretending their previous conversation hadn't happened.

"Oi, Tai," Qrow replied knowingly. "So, how are things at school?" he asked of his nieces.

"All great. Our partners, Blake and Weiss, are fantastic and we made a lot of other friends." Ruby smiled, showing him a photograph of the team.

"Seriously?" Qrow stared at the image with a critical eye. "The Schnee heiress?"

"Oh, she's not that bad," Yang rolled her eyes, fully aware of the feud between her uncle and Winter Schnee. Well, more generally, all of those within the higher tiers of the Atlesian military. "She's helping me a lot with my studies. Blake is nice, too, just a bit too lonely".

"By the way, Oz told me about a little mess at the docks." Qrow commented with a huge smirk.

"Yeah, we managed to get a trace on Torchwick, but he managed to escape alongside his people" Ruby said, trying to not think of Jack.

"You're going to have to be more patient since that guy now is going to be more alert than ever." Tai warned them.

"We'll take him." Yang said resolutely, smiling upon Ruby nodding.

"You've gotta to begin to think like true Huntress," Qrow countered. "That guy will be in his best refugee, with his allies to defend him and a full arsenal." he paused, for a moment, in emphasis. "But before or after he will need to leave, and is that the monent you will have to strike."He finished pointing a finger at both girls, before the door opened.

An old doctor with tanned skin, a nice looking white mane, stylish moustache and sunglassess entered. Both Tai and Qrow knew the medic very well. He was a retired Huntsman who had accompanied them on several missions for Team STRQ when they were still students and had also had the dubious honor of seeing them fall apart just a few years after graduation. The two Huntsmen still heard a lot from him and were always very glad to see him; both when they need a little fix and when they just wanted to talk a little about the old times.

"I apologize, young ladies, but visiting hours are over for now. Mister Branwen must rest." he said to the two girls, ignoring Qrow's exasperated look.

"Don't call me 'mister' Branwen, Stan. You make me feel older than you and Oz put together when you say shit like that." He said, albeit laughing alongside everyone else.

"Okay, let's go." Tai said. Yang gave her uncle a pat on the shoulder while Ruby gave him a little kiss on the cheek, before asking one last question.

" Oh, i forgot to ask, who saved you? We all owe him an huge favor." Qrow's face became darker. He didn't want Ruby to meet that man, not for now, at least, but he was sure it would happen sooner or late regardless of his wishes.

"Eh, he's a guy who doesn't like the spotlight. But you will probably meet him at some point. He's used to appearing in the...most interesting moments."

"Okay, I look forward to it. Promise me you'll rest and get better?" Ruby looked to him for a second before leaving him to sleep.

"I will," He told her. "Be safe, petal."

* * *

Hi, guys, i hope your Summer is going great and that you liked the chapter, especially since i introduced Fate elements and Salem herself, kinda in the air. I read the critics for Volume 1 and i assure you the second saga will be much longer, detailed and i hope entertaining. Keep reviewing so i can make sure of reach these objective. I also thanks both my beta semblance, and my friend Elara Vlad Tepes(you can find her on Wattpad), who written the introduction of the Throne.

Ah, if you're wondering that medic is who you think he is... then yes. I written the chapter last November, right while the news of Stan's death came out. The man made a good chunk of my childhood, so i felt obbligated to do at least a little homage, i hope it was of your liking.


	8. Chapter 8: Training and discoveries

Emil and Ciel were staring at each other by almost a full minute, their expression totally blank. On the watchers' seats, Souchiro and Medea had a similar expression while their arms were crossed in the exactly same way, while Penny was biting her lips anxious. This fight could either fix or destroy her team completely, she really hoped it would be the latter case.

The knowledge each fighter had of the other was remarkable; however, in this moment, their respective fighting styles were the focus. Ciel Soleil eyed Emil closely as he did her. Both knew that a single, wrong move could determine the outcome of their match. It was not long before she charged him, though he dodged out of her attack and swiftly grabbed her, from which he flung her into the air. The to-be soldier regained balance within the air and expected to be attacked but, even while she landed, Emil stood still to deceive her, an action which earned him a date with her fury.

She could only imagine what the wolf faunus had in mind, even as she shot a flaming bullet once more that he dodged with a sadistic smile. Then he activated his semblance, and all at once, every part of her body became all but a lead weight that collapsed on the ground, struggling to move.

"Seriously?" The martial artist exclaimed. "You wanted to be our leader and you think challenging me without any kind of countermeasure to my semblance?!"

She gritted her teeth, and, to prove Emil wrong, she channeled forth all of the Aura she had aching in her muscles. It was a feat of such grandeur that her body all but screamed in pain as she even lifted only a finger. It was from this that her teammates and Medea saw and could appreciate her tenacity.

"You do know that my family has never surrendered to anyone, don't you, fucking flea bag?"

She focused on him, and called to mind her familial legacy, their fighting style. The dark skinned girl so charged again on her opponents, activating two blades on her guns, which she swung at the wolf faunus with great skill, but every hit was easily pared by his tonfas, which apperead fust as thunders.

"Oh, look, the great Ciel Soliel insults me after months of being ignored. What an honor!"

Emil pushed her away with a kick to her ribs and shot a rocket tr, but she slipped out of the way. She united her guns into a single rifle with a big bayonetta on the end, and quickly shot a powerful beam of Aura towards Emil. The technology, of course, was another of Medea's many contributions to Atlesian weaponry and military technology from over the years. Emil, although barely, managed away from the beam and took the chance to sneak behind her with a level of agility which was contrary to his build. With this temporary advantage, he kicked Ciel harshly in the back. Though this was strong enough to knock out or kill some, Ciel was a soldier at heart and still managed to force herself up.

"Did you honestly think you could defeat me?" She taunted with an arrogant tone, which trough hidden the pain she was feeling.

Strained as she was, she managed to take her rifile and shot an ice laser towards Emil. He tried to block channeling Aura in his weapons and crossing them in front of him, but was still locked in a block of ice and Ciel herself smiled victoriously.

" She's a dumbass…" Souchiro muttered to Penny's surprise.

"You must be exaggerating a little," She said. "That attack took quite a bit of Emil's aura."

"Quantity is not the issue, Penny," Medea corrected.

Medea, personally, had many years of work with both Dust and of this, the scientist could analyse both almost instantly, needing only a glance. It was even as she spoke that the block of ice began to crack.

"Quality is more valuable, by scores," The scientist continued. "I know Ciel's family, and they've taught her everything...but she isn't used to fight one on one with people stronger than her other than her parents and a few tutors. Emil, on ther other way…"

She trailed off as he broke out of the ice, smiling almost evily while the shards were shining and created a little rainbow.

"Perhaps we should agree to disagree!" Emil exclaimed to a shocked Ciel, activating a Dust chamber within his left tonfa, making the girl's jaw dropping to the floor.

"Oh, please!"

Emil enchanted his tonfa with a double layer of flames and thunder, intending to destroy his opponent. Ciel masked whatever fear she had and fought him in a storm of hits, dodges and shooting, yet also trying to force him into lowering his guard.

It was not easy as he, too, was a real monster that would destroy everything in his path. And, still, in spite of this, she charged her bayonet on her rifle with as much energy she could and attaccked him at even higher speed, attacking from several angles, and shooting whenever she was capable.

"So, you are capable of fighting like a real huntress and not a mindless puppet," He tartly remarked as he manipulated her with his semblance, slowing her again.

Unlike Sun, who chose to hide his true ability and utilise, instead, cheap tricks, Emil preferred to go all out with a direct charge. It was also because he knew how to handle high-ranking Atlesians. He believed it worked best, with them, to make them certain that you either are an adoring servant., or... scare them nearly to death, so that they'll do everything you want.

"I am not a puppet!" She snapped.

She kicked him in the face and then conjured a powerful flame shoot with evolved into an huge explosion. For a few seconds Souchiro and his two female companions couldn't see a thing, until Emil emerged hitting Ciel like a fury.

" Good, everything needs emotion," He replied.

Emil ecstatically attacked her ribs while Medea giggled on the platform above and her son smacked his own face in exasperation.

"I don't believe it," The snake faunus muttered.

"Emil wanted Ciel to trust her instincts and know his power," Medea replied. "Vlad did the same to Sienna Kahn when we were at Haven.", she said nostalgic while Penny, surprised by that comment, tried to speak. But a finger of the lilac haired witch silenced her, it was a story for another day. She could only hope the young students alongside her would never do the mistakes of the past.

* * *

As it often happened during the year, Emerald Forest was disturbed by a group of students coming to train and experiment new tecniques. This time it consisted of team JNPR, Velvet and her leader, Coco Adel.

"Thanks for the help, Coco. Without you we would have needed months" Jaune told the fashionista.

"My pleasure, Arc," She replied. "I'm always experimenting with Dust infused clothing, and these are much better than the dangerous…first attempts of mine."

" So... can I try this baby on?" Nora exclaimed, with a few pink sparkles on her shouders, looking at Jaune.

The blonde knight watched the trees in front of him for a few seconds, before pointing at a nearby Ursa, which attempted to hide from the group of Huntsmen without much success. Nora nodded happily and charged at the beast, enveloped by her semblance in a show of pink lightning. The electricity of it would kill most, even with Aura, but it was just sweet and easy food for her. She jumped on the Ursa with her bare hands and grabbed it in a few seconds, punching it to the sky with the bolts of lighting all around her. Even her teammates and Coco Adel could hear the shockwave caused by her attack, with their hair rising up for a few seconds.

"So?" She chirped to her friends, who were still a little stunned for a few seconds.

"Impressive," Jaune said with a smile after clearing his troath. "Ren, do you want to try?"

"My pleasure," His teammate smoothly replied.

He focused his Aura in his right hand and was soon surrounded by a small flowing of water and wind. Unlike his childhood friend, who just got the Dust she was most used to, he preferred to enlarge his arsenal as much possible, using elements who should mix well with his flexible style while improving at the same time the attack power by a long shot.

Ren, like he had performed that move an hundred of times, put his hand on the ground and infused his own spiritual energy within it. In a few second, all the Huntsmen and Huntress in training could behold the sight of very tall and powerful geyser, which also formed a little rainbow on them. Ren, now soaked and with streams of water and wind at his sides, seemed like a young warrior god coming from ancient legend. Definitly Nora was looking him like he was. Jaune and Pyrrha as well looked at him in amazement. Their relatives were quite skilled in Dust manipulation, but rarely they managed to be that elegant.

"This will definitely come in useful…" Ren remarked, contemplating his new powers before reuniting with Nora.

" Damn.", commented Velvet going near them and watching the visible remains of energy on their bodies." With this you could very well become the greatest asset of Beacon in the tournaument.".

"You still need to learn to use them in a real fight," Pyrrha reminded the girl and the two teammates, trough she had to agree. If Ren trained more his stamina, he would become a force to be recknoed for several Grimm and rogues. Nora, on her own right was much more skilled an smarter people gave her credit, to the point of almost ruining Jaune's plans when they sparred. Her toughts were aniway interrupted by Jaune.

" Right, Pyrrha. Do you have any advices? My parents teached me only how charge bullets.".

" Well, my mom and uncle Lionheart gave me lessons a little more advanced, but is a lot of time i don't practice. Dust manipulation isn't very popular at Mistral junior tournaument.", she explained with just a bit of imbarassment. Coco then taken her bag and with just the press of a button, it quickly trasformed into a large machine gun brown and gold.

" Then you have to go the hard way, my little juniores.", she said with just an hint of sadism in her voice while Velvet sighed and everyone turned in their guard position. Soon the forest turned into a mess made by louds of battle and shockwaves of amazing power.

Beacons students definitly learned fast... but fast enough?

* * *

The mess in the Emerald Forest wasn't the only to happen in Vale at the moment. The other one lacked of explosion and slashes capable of cutting trees like nothing, but in a way was far worse.

RETURN TO MENAGERIE!

That was the sentiment expressed on the Valerian docks by a crowd of angry civilians, barely held to their place by the police. On the bridge nearby, however, the faunus in arms and in uniforms were led by Vlad Drakul himself, mantaining an elegance that could rival the Atlesian military. They arrived just a few minutes earlier from Menagerie, with the permission of the Valean council. Of course not everyone agreed with their presence.

"Get out, you ruffian!" Someone shouted, pelting a rotten apple at Vlad but the man caught and destroyed it swift and withouth seeming perturbed in the slightlest.

The police commander, Joseph Baker, found immediatly the perpretator and arrested him for a brief night in jail. Meanwhile One of the journalists press ID'ed herself and then went to the bridge, having obtained permission from Vlad for an interview before he departed from his home.

"Mister Drakul, what brings you to Vale? The Vytal Festival, perhaps?"He nodded shortly.

" Of course. I am planning to start an academy and hope some participants may be qualified as potential staff."

He was, of course, speaking not on his own behalf but on that of all of Menagerie, his answers were also Ghira and Kali's answers.

"Only faunus or humans too?"

"Both, just like the other academies, for the sake of promoting progress."

"What of your ties to the White —", asked again the young journalist before being interrupted suddenly, but not without education, by the bat faunus.

"What happened to the White Fang is the perfect example of what a leadership to 'free' can cause. It is a clear division of interests, other than drastic changes of the methods in use. And not in a good way. The terrorist faction has nothing to do anymore with what the White Fang once was, and neither does with our island. Tell your readers that I'm taking necessary countermesures alongside the authorities, during our time in Vale, to limit their attacks against the population and more.", he explained with the cold yet charismatic style that always was his mark.

"Good to know, i hope you will be listened. As concorded we'll finish tomorrow?", the woman asked finally, gaining a nod from the Huntsman and then walking away, her place taken by Joseph.

The man, still in service despite being almost sixty, was actually dressed in his uniform covered by a suit of kevlar and several protections on shoulders, knees and elbows. Short grey hair and a little beard showed his aging, yet deep brown eyes still demonstrated incredible vitality and intelligence.

Just as expected from an Huntsman who fought high tier criminals in all of Vale's territory, both on the streets and in courts, and kept doing his job despite all the problems that ran beetween his subordinates. Exactly the kind of man Vlad needed for finding out who or what was helping the White Fang.

"This kingdom is ruled by a bunch of hypocrites. I apologize for this spectacle", commented simply the commander before offering his hand to Vlad.

" Mphh, tell that to me. Some of the most pacifist people i ever knew were planning an assassination on our chieftain. All because he was 'hindering' the White Fang's cause.", he answered in disgust taking the hand and shaking it with strength, before leading his men on the bridge alongside Joseph." Any new on the two kids sent to kill Tukson?".

" No, we searched their faces in all the civilians archives, and nothing apperead. Our best hypothesis is that they were born in some very far village or rogue community that never bothered to record them.", the older Huntsman referred, causing Vlad to sigh.

" Probably. Torchwick instead?".

" Disapperead in thin air just after those students fought him not so far by here. Not even my best informers have a clue of where he is. But i know him by a long time. We can be sure before or after an huge occasion will present itself and he will take it. That, or his accomplices will need him for a job.".

Once again Vlad agreed, his mood always darker. He remembered the letter that Medea sent to him, with the news about that Grimm hybrid( especially who she was). Definitly Vale needed them, now.

* * *

Hi, guys, i hope to don't be so late and especially that the chapter was of your liking. My biggest fear is that Emil could seem either a Gary stue or goddamn op(other than arrogant), is one of the charachters i want to flesh out the most, especially when it'll comes to pairings. By the way, you discovered Sienna was a part of Vlad and Medea's team, kinda random? I'll make my best to portray her as a true charachter then, and not someone who was here just to be killed.

Joseph Baker instead in the beginning was to be a namelless oc, then i tought of how change more volume 2, and i decided to give more space to Vale's police departement, they will be a big supporter until the end of volume 3, can't say for nexts. Joseph in particular is based upon Peppino Impastato, one of Sicily's many martyrs against mafia. I'm trying to homage him with the charachter, i wish i gotten the result right.

Chapter 9 is ready, just waiting to be betaed by Semblance. As always, claps to her, she's definitly a better writer than me and deserves more readers. While you wait, offer me all the criticism(as long you use well manners) you want on what i've to improve, by eliminating the many flaws that affect my writing and give more emphasis on the best parts. See you soon.


	9. Chapter 9: Arrives

Chapter 9:Arrives

Since Merlot's death, the people of Mountain Glenn had lived in relative peace. The city now was very well defended, in part by their technological defences and in part by the huntsmen and huntresses that now lived there. Rumours that some of them were followers of King Hassan were brushed aside, and they were left to keep the city safer from any adversity, most importantly the Grimm.

They knew now when to leave parts of the underground, as well as when to conquer them again thanks to their rader. They were now far beyond, so it seemed, from the dark beginning that the people remembered all to well. And it was to that end that the people were still blissfully unaware of the madness some hundred of kilometers far from the city.

"Put down those fucking bins!" Roman Torchwick yelled at Astolfo ad Jack, both of whom were working the White Fang in their huge lair, right at the center of a series of tunnels taken up almost completely by Grimm a few years earlier.

Gilgamesh sat rather indifferently on a distant rock, upon which he was playing with the myriad weapons that came through his portals.

" Jester, how much longer until I get to challenge Vale's true power?", he casually said with a very unmasing ton.

Roman stopped dead alongside the White Fang grunts who were near enough to hear. A bored Gilgamesh was definitely a bad Gilgamesh. Last time they sparred, only Neo managed to save him from having every bone of his body completely broken( that and maybe the fact that for some reason the thief was actually able to entertain the ancient warrior).

"Three months," Roman said quickly. "And, no, I don't decide when we go.". Gilgamesh simply sighed and risen from his made up throne.

"I have got to remind Salem how much I hate waiting.", he simply said before going out for a walk, but was stopped by a sudden interruption.

They all paused upon the formation of a portal, identical to the one used by Emerald and Mercury to escape the other day, on the other side of the cave.

"Roman…" Cinder hummed as she stepped out alongside Emerald and Mercury. "How are things going?". The thief gestured grandly to their surroundings.

"I can blow us all to hell.", he joked with a small laugh, making frown the witch's companions.

"A perfect example for every little rascal with a mask." Mercury said dryly.

"My job was to scare both Vale and this city. You've seen what I've done kid. Take a hint." Roman smirked while Neo and Jack moved near him in a little explosion of colored glass and shadow in case things turned violent.

"Well we're here to show you Neo and Astolfo's new teammate," Cinder matched his smirk while Diarmuid emerged from the portal, then making a little bow to Torchwick.

"Diarmuid, Knights of Fianna's ex leader, at your service." The Lancer said haughtily while a loud laugh resonated in the air.

"I can't believe, of all those mongrels, that you're here." Gilgamesh declared.

"Hello, lord Gilgamesh, it is a pleasure to see you again." Diarmuid sighed, though not without greeting his fellow Heroic spirit with another bow.

"Do you know each other... your majesty?", asked surprised Cinder. Despite being aware of the Heroic Spirits' nature, she didn't know in detail about the relationship beetween them.

"We fought in the same Holy Grail War.", simply stated Diarmuid, before having to duck for dodging a sword launched at amazing speed and then blocking two axes with in his axe, with a display of speed that shocked even Cinder."I thought we were allies this time, Archer, even if against our will". The knight commented again, seeing Gilgamesh's smug smile.

"Sure, but a true king must be sure that, despite being inferior to him, all his subordinates will be ready to battle."

* * *

While the enemies of Beacon were continuing with their plans, a certain team which included a fascionista almost as sarcastic as Yang, and a rabbit faunus with very deceptive appereance, was waiting for the arrival of someone really important.

"Calm down, Bun Bun!" Coco exclaimed, watching her female companions jumping happily.

"Coco, sorry I haven't seen my dad in almost three months! And he's arriving the same day of James Ironwood and Vlad Drakul of all people!" Velvet smiled brightly, causing a little chuckling even in Fox and Yatsuhashi, even if they were usually the stoic ones.

Finally the private Bullhead of Iskandar's army arrived, landing alongside those coming from Atlas and the public ones that transported Vlad's men.

"Ah, Beacon…" The Conqueror commented while exiting from the veichle and sensing the familiar air before seeing four very familiar faces coming towards him.

"DADDY!" The young faunus yelled, jumping on the warrior's neck and receveing a pat on the head.

"Velvet, little one!" Iskandar greeted happily before putting her down and eyeing her companions.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, mister Scarlatina." Yatsuhashi politely said, then suddenly receveing an huge pack on his shoulder.

"Melt a little, Yatsu, this should be an happy day." Iskander laughed before shaking hands with Coco and Fox.

" How much time do you think of stopping by, commander?" asked the blind hand to hand fighter.

"Well, I'm happy with it at least until the end of the Vytal Festival. All my soldiers returned home, between the various kingdoms and villages. Even after calling them, it will be a few months to reunite. Until then I can consider myself a normal huntsmen." He answered going to the Accademy's entrance, while also chatting with the group.

In Ozpin's office though, the headmaster was having a much more animated discussion with two other men.

"We already have the identikits(1) of two of then, Oz. Shouldn't we engage our people to find them?" Ironwood crossed his arms and looked to his two collegues, wishing only to stop whatever plan the Queen of Grimm( or whoever was going to attack Vale, trough she was the most obvius choice) had in mind with as little civilian losses as possible.

"I personally agree with you, James, but things gotten too calm within the city. I'm afraid the moved somewhere else." observed Vlad thinking about the reports sent to him by the police.

"Yes, but where?" James sighed.

"Vlad, are you sure the two who attacked Tukson are who you think?"

"Maybe it's a little far fetched, but I read what happened when you recruited Summer's daughter. She was attacked by an unknown fire user capable of going against Glynda of all peole. Torchwick is affiliated both with the White Fang and Grimm. This is not a coincidence!" He exclaimed in exasperation, gaining a nodding from Ironwood, before the lift arrived with two people on board.

Iskandar entered alongside Medea, who was covered in motor oil and grease.

"Sorry I'm late, we had some trouble flying over the sea. Anyway, it's a pleasure to see you again." greeted the red haired general, shaking hands with the three collegues.

Many thought there was a rivalry between Ironwood and the other two generals, given that Vlad was a faunus and Iskandar, despite not answering to any of the kingdoms, was much more popular than him. Nothing was further from the truth.

The Atlesian respected both and considered them friends, but he was just a little envious of their raw strength and worried what would happen if Iskandar's men went rogue. Which happened a few times, but the punishment given to the culprits by Iskandar himself was enough to disuade perpetrators. After giving her own greetings Medea went directly to Ozpin, giving him a tablet.

"I've put fortifications, turrets, and radars in on the entire campus. They're connected to an independent network, so even if the CCCT would fall, they'd remain active, and you can change them as much you want, including what they should aim to."

" Thanks for the help, Medea, now..."

"I ain't finished yet. Beacon has finally good defenses for whatever Salem can throw at us. I left the easy part at last. I'm referring to the vault of Amber, of course."

"No, we're the only ones who can know of her existance."

" In fact I'll modify it by myself. Before the Vytal Festival it will become a butcher house for everyone who will try to enter," The scientist, ready to everything for the safety of Souchiro and his teammates, smiled tightly. "By the way, James, how's the arm's upgrade? Any sort of troubles?"

The Atlesian general sighed before glancing to his right arm.

"No, Medea, but thanks. I don't use it very often, but it works."

As soon as she left, the group was taken once more by the argument about how find Torchwick and his mysterious collegues.

* * *

That night, after a battle of all vs all, one of the members of Team RWBY was taking a shower to cleanse herself of the sweat and possibly put a bit of order to her thoughts. Yang Xiao Long had been one of the best students at Signal, defeating several opponents with her mix of strength and tecnique. Her defeats led her to train even harder and surpass her limits, yet she had begun to think it wasn't enough for Beacon, even less for being a professional.

She saw how Qrow had been just a few days earlier, and sure as hell there was a reason the Academy's defenses were being fortified( more than likely in case more things like Jack apperead). The academy's unofficial classification still ranked her as a first rate fighter, and her grades as well were definitly good, and yet... She felt the gap between her and Ruby that was present until a few month ago kept getting shorter, while Blake and Weiss definitly surpassed her in tecnique, versatility and Aura manipulation: her greatest weak point.

Most of the time she used just as much energy she could within her punches and tanked the enemy attacks to augment further her power. She turned down the water and sighed. She always did a physical training while on her own, dismissing most of the Aura manipulation excercises her father gave her after mastering them.

Maybe that was the main problem: if she started those excercises again, she could start to control the damage better in both directions. But she had to figure out how all of this would change her fighting style in the immediate future. Same for the consequences on her team.

"Everything okay, Yang?" Weiss asked, knocking on the blonde quickly pulled on her clothes hearing the white haired girl's voice.

"Just a second!"

Yang awkwardly smirked upon opening the door and leaned against it. Oddly, the heiress had her hair down and was alone. She looked cute, perhaps because she looked younger.

"Where's Blake?" Her curiosity overtook her. "Is Ruby hiding out with cookies?"

"Team SSSN asked Ren and Jaune to give them a little tour in Vale, and Nora and Pyrrha are having a make up night with Blake and Ruby," The heiress sighed as she stepped into the bathroom. "Don't ask me how they managed to convince Blake, but I doubt she'll stay long."

"Okay, Weiss. Ah, I've got a few questions. Could you talk me about your training?"

"Mhh, why?"

"Well, I'm thinking of changing my fighting style a little, or at least work on Aura manipulation."

"Understood. Well, when I decided to become an Huntress, my father hired several teachers. Competent, but arrogant and more than often quite indisponent. Then, when I was ten, Lancelot came." Weiss bit her lip, remembering those terrible lessons had been before Lancelot arrived. They weren't difficult because the subjects or the excercise were too much for her, but because of how much those tutors yelled at her and wanted everything done on the spot. His lesson were still tasking, if not harder, but only in the physical sense.

" You talk about him a lot. Do you have a crush on him, by any chance?" Yang mocked her, making the Schnee's usually pale skin much more colored.

"What?! Absolutely not, and he could confirm it. My sister, Winter, thinks I idolize him too much, and maybe that's true. But, regardless, he taught me how improve my sword style and unite it with my other skills to start…"

"Including Aura manipulation?" Yang shifted towards her.

"Of course, both to improve my physical prowess and to increment the power of my Dust attacks and Glyphs. Trough it still pales in comparison to what Medea teached Shouchiro."

"Well, I think the basis i used so far won't help me anymore. I need to be able to do some of the more advanced stuff before the Tornaument. May you help me?" Yang crossed her arms under the chest

It may very well be the brawler's last chance against the White Fang, and whatever horrors they had in storage for them, they were sure Jack was far from being the last or the worst of them.

"Yang, no offence but i'm not sure if someone can reach in that short of a time. Also, I'm not sure if you have the temperament for it." Weiss sighed heavily. "Yang, please…"

It wasn't easy surpass certain limits. Once you met one of them, the best thing was return to the basis, but the time for the training varied from person to person. And of course there was no reassurance it would work in the end.

Yang sat again on her bed and massaged her forehead in thought.

"With the normal methods, you mean. What about a new weapon? Something that uses a lot the energy of Dust, obliging me to adapt even faster?."

"It could be dangerous using such weapons without control…" The heiress hesitated. " But It could work in the long run. I'll help you, you'll need it."

"Thanks, Weiss!" Yang huggedher partner, their chests touching each other. Weiss tried to free herself for a little, then surrendered. It was a very nice sensation and, after all, there was a hot, pooling sensation in her lower half. She would've stayed like that if not for —

"We're back! Sorry for the...oh, sorry!" Ruby giggled as she entered in the room alongside Blake. The two had a great night with their other girl friends, and the rest of the night passed beetween jokes and talks.

* * *

(1) I personally doubt Mercury and Emerald's identities could be find in a civilian archives, and let's say that for now the police doesn't have access to the Academies' files. So for now, the only thing Vlad and Ironwood have about our favorite cronies are their appereances. If you find it a weak excuse, the thing will be addressed more in next chapters.

* * *

Hello, guys, hoping the wait wasn't that long and that the chapter, trough devoid of fights and with the same problems of previous chapters, satisfied you. Please, to all those who favorite or follow my fic, give me a review and tell me what i'd have to fix and where improving. Every comment is accepted, as long the critiques are given with politeness and respect, both for me and Semblance, who fixed the grammar as always. Good August, I'll make myself alive again soon as possible.


	10. Chapter 10: Quite

A mere few weeks had passed since the beginning of the increasing defences at Beacon Academy. The new teams form the other schools were still coming, albeit surprised by the Aura sensors directly connected to all of the networks. Because the headmaster didn't choose all of the teams for the festival in one shot, this was causing every day some concern and confusion.

Cinder, Neo, Astolfo, and Diarmuid were both worried and shocked by these, especially while they analysed the newcomers. Despite Emerald and Mercury's discovery by the Vale PD (1), Leonardo had still sent Cinder her new teammates to Beacon sans questions and Diarmuid and Astolfo identities were falsified in Haven's archives. Officially, the true teammates of the servants were injured in an accident with Emerald and Mercury. It was lucky that the professors could not remember all of the students and thus didn't ask many sudden questions about their presence. Plus, a little amulet imbued with Neo's Aura beetween the other things, created by Salem herself, hidden their true appearances and Aura without problems.

"This place is amazing," Astolfo, with normal skin, remarked. He was alongside Diarmuid who was also in a 'normal' appearance. Both of them were dressed in Haven's uniform, which fit them both quite well.

Right, but remember that it is still a huntsman academy," Cinder eyed them all sharply. "Some of the most dangerous people in the world live here."

"And remember that we were knights. Good knights, if I might add." Diarmuid scowled back and Cinder couldn't help but be excited around them because they were inferior to her, albeit dangerous opponents. Then they heard some murmurs, and a boy quickly crashed into them.

"Hey!" Cinder yelled, wanting to kill him on the spot. "What the hell?"

"Sorry, but there's a huge food fight and everyone is crazy –" The boy answered quickly, hoping he could escape quickly. Cinder scowled.

"For a children's game?!"

"You're probably not from Beacon," He answered, then running for his life.

The three false students glanced back to see what they were all escaping from. A few moments later, there was a ridiculous scene of a mess of sugar, sausages, and far too much food. Three teams were scattered around and covered in the remains of the fight. Sun was doing Einzeverich's maneuverer to Emil.

"Thanks," Emil said, chucking an apple to the ground.

Cinder giggled uncharacteristically. "Things look even easier than we expected."

* * *

A few minutes later, Ruby and Blake were busy cleaning the whole dining hall. Nearby, Ciel was complaining as sighed.

"And…as always…I cause trouble when I don't mean to. Do you think we deserved it?"

"It can't be worse than what I did last semester," Blake mused.

The two could have probably easily fixed the mess, but Glynda had forced them not to use their Aura and, to make it worse, Ciel would not shut up.

"Blake…" Ruby whined. "We've already dealt with that."

"I'm different, Ruby," She said darkly. "I'm pretty sure I've just…look, I'm just hoping that I can…I've done things you would be horrified by, and it's because of some of those things that you all almost paid for it."

Ruby bit her lip.

"You've changed, and it wasn't any more of a risk than we signed up for as huntresses."

Blake went silent in consideration but then nodded shortly.

"Thanks, Rubes."

"I'm still not sure what Ozpin sees in me," She said under her breath.

"You're fine."

"Really?"

"Okay, so maybe he played some favorties," Blake awkwardly rubbed her neck. "But you've stepped up."

"Alright," She conceded. "I'll agree I've stepped up if you promise me you won't run anymore."

Blake smiled.

"I promise."

"Lovely," Said a voice from behind. "My little niece comforting her leader."

Blake whipped around to see her uncle leaning against the doorway with a smirk.

"Uncle Vlad?" She shrieked.

"Vlad Drakul!" Ruby exclaimed in excitement, running towards him.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Ruby Rose? I think I've met your parents and uncle a few times. Qrow in particular put me out of some bad situations."

Ruby nodded frantically.

" Oh, yeah, uncle Qrow mentioned that. Do you have your weapon by any chance?"

He nodded.

"Didn't Qrow train you in scythe wielding?"

Ruby let out an excitable yell.

" Also a bit of swordmanship, but yes. It''s thanks to him why I can use my Crescent Rose like it's just an extension of my body! But can I see your weapon? Please, please, please?"

Blake sighed, feeling almost as if Ruby were being a tad smug. Vlad, however, didn't so much as raise an eyebrow and pulled a golden ring out from behind his back, which showed curved blades on the sides. He elongated them, and Ruby watched in amazement.

 _She's so much like Summer…_ Vlad thought ruefully while the girl hit the air several times with a certain grace before rotating Valacchia for a few seconds.

Ruby handed his weapon back to him. " She's so cool! The Dust is kind of like Weiss', yet uses also a differend system. How long did ti take to make it?"

"My entire life," He replied. "I made the first prototype before Haven, but I had to develop it further for the use of my Semblance and more ranged combat. This only has a bit of the original. Other than that, it's only two years old."

Had they been given more time, they probably would have kept talking but they were interrupted by a young chameleon faunus and a grey haired girl that didn't look particularly like a faunus.

" General, mr. Scarlatina and mr. Ironwood require your presence."

"I'll be right there," Vlad said quickly. "Just so you know, Illia, Tairfa, this is Blake, my niece, and Ruby, her team leader. Ruby, Blake, these are Ilia Amitola and Trifa Widow, two of my best stealth expert."

The two briefly bowed to the two partners.

Ruby waved.

"Hi!"

" Thanks for the informations you provided about Roman Torchwick and his collegues. They've proven to be quite decisive," Tairfa smiled." We'll get him."

"I want to help," Blake said immediately. "How many of you are in Vale?"

"Twenty…just about," Ilia said indifferently. "We're staying at the main police station. But…can you swear you no longer have connection to Adam Taurus?"

Blake flinched.

"How would you be able to assume I ever was associated with him?"

"Lord Vlad doesn't keep secrets unless it's necessary," She coldly replied. "You know, we met once during the last party for both of our organizations to meet. A few months later, if you'll recall, it all went to hell and I was sent to take him on with an entire group. He didn't kill us only because Sienna still controlled him at the time."

"I wasn't responsible for his methods –" Blake protested.

"Blake…" Vlad said, shaking his head.

Blake bit her lip.

"I did know him and I did help him on some of his more…unprovoked attacks."

She tried to ignore Ruby's scowl and Ilia's criticism. Vlad, however, listened without saying a thing, he knew Blake needed this kind of speech, especially if she eventually decided to succeed Ghira. A true chief must always listen to his subordinates, he learned it as well. Trifa nodded at Ilia and bowed.

"Sorry," She said shortly. "This is a difficult situation for all of us, and several of our companions have their share of doubts."

"I'm not exactly innocent," Blake said quietly.

Ruby put a hand to Blake's shoulder.

"At least you can admit this. That's the first thing to atoning, after all…"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the city of Arcadia, the two proud parents of eight were transporting several bags, surrounded by six of their children, Jeanne sporting her true battle armor.

If her housewife attire was already pretty armed(ehy, if you have to raise eight children with too much Aura for their age, sometimes alongside claws and tails, better safe than sorry ), this made her look pretty much like a walking tank: Arms, hips and legs were totally covered in metal, just like her neck, every single part created to offer less skin as possible to the Grimm and don't hinder her movements; the shoulders pad were on their own little, but pointed enough to become weapons and her chest's armor was more than capable to block bullets, elemental attacks and fangs.

Her helmet covered as well the entire head, hair included, and had as decoration two dragon wings on the ears. Her weapons were a lance decorated with a flag enchanted as well with various kind of Dust, that could be used either for protection or to enchant her attacks. At her sides instead there was what seemed to be a copy of Crocea Mors, but upgraded with a gun form, and a shield, a bit bigger by the one used by Jaune.

"Mom, will you return soon?" Asked a little girl with her skin covered in scales. Xenovia Arc, youngest child of the couple. Without said scale, she would be a perfect copy of Jeanne at her age.

"Don't worry, it will be just a few months. Saffron and Terra will be with you." Jeanne smiled at her youngest, giving a kiss to her scaled forehead.

"And you'll remember to say hello to Jaune for all of us?" Tanya asked, one of the middle children. Human and blonde as her mother, she was still way more sassy and she held a whip on her hips.

Saffron was the oldest daughter of the two Hunters, actually in Argus with her wife, Terra, and their child. While she didn't become a huntress like Jaune and a few of her sisters wanted, Siegfried trained her to the point she could take on several graduates and win. She was the person they trusted more.

Meanwhile Sieg put the bags at the center of their garden, before focusing his Aura and giving life to something. A black and blue sphere appeared in the middle of the garden, gradually growing wings and horns. In less than a minute, a dragon was in front of the house, with all girls looking in awe. Despite seeing their father's Semblance, Fafnir, more than once, and even riding it on special occasions, that beasts made of raw energy was always majestic. Once finished, the crocodile faunus turned to his daughters for one last thing.

"Very well, girls, remember. Don't..." Sieg shivered at the thought of the house on fire again.

"We won't get Saffron and Terra crazy!" They promised.

" Good.".

And, with that, their parents departed into the clouds, with Jeanne cutely snuggling on her husband's back…yet they didn't realise how much help they would all need by the years end.

Hello, everyone, i hope you enjoyed the chapter, despite some bland part. From next chapters we'll move of course onto Slayer, and that's where things will start to truly diverge from canon. Every critique is welcomed as always, as long given with politeness, see you soon.


	11. Chapter 11: Slayers- part 1

Chapter Eleven

Slayers: part 1

How shall we explain Peter Port?

For one, he was old - the oldest professor at Beacon - and students often joked that he was present at the founding of the kingdoms. But, for all the jests directed towards him, he was one of the most respected professors at the academy, and one of the better liked although this was not because of his teaching methods.

His lectures were long, terribly so, and few students managed to get through one without falling asleep for at least part of it. Some would try to focus, knowing that thousands of Grimm were vanquished by him from his sixty years as a huntsman and that when he actually tried to explain, his advices could save numerous lives. He was the oldest and longest serving huntsman to date, and he was held in such high esteem as a result.

Even as a professor, he was continuing to take time during holidays to control Grimm populations in susceptible areas and often times alone. This, however, was not field work and most of the class was daydreaming while the others were distractible at best.

"And, so!"He exclaimed in an attempt, perhaps, to be relatable" I led the barrage against those damn Deathstalkers! They stood no chance against us!"  
He began to chuckle at his own joke, and some titters were heard from the class in agreement.

" Weiss…" Jaune hissed, sounding almost dead inside. "Kill me."

He wanted someone to have to fight something for demonstration although he would be grateful to anyone who caused a disruption. In that moment, he would have been okay with Goodwitch storming into the room and dragging him out to yell at him for the latest paper he had submitted late and that was supposedly terrible (and admittedly half-assed; he had been half-asleep while writing it after a whole night of Remnant: The game. Nora taken a sadistic side into putting Atlas' nobility near full submission).The heiress snorted.

"Sorry, you're not getting out of this anymore than the rest of us are."  
He seemed annoyed but slumped back and forced himself to keep his eyes open. She had been on her scroll the entire class period. Some of it was weapons design (for Yang) that involved Dust.

Beside her, Ruby was playing a Fire Emblem game that she had brought with her, and kept muttering nonsensical things to herself. 'Die you sons of bitches, die' for instance, and 'oh, come on, I almost had him!'

It would have been amusing if he could have heard a word she was saying. Blake, however, kept clicking off of videos she had begun to watch and flicked through the news, searching for any deviations in the cycle. She was also waiting for Vlad to reply after the promise team RWBY would be informed about new WF operation.

Every message she got trough seemed to be a coupon or a warning about her data usage. So She did, however, have to resist the urge to let out a yelp of joy upon getting another message from her honorary uncle that simply informed her to head downtown to the police department as soon as her and her teammates were able. It was an immense relief, and they were all much happier when, several hours later, were in their street clothes. Arrived at the police station, Joseph Baker himself was the one to welcome them, and they managed to see both team SESP and team SSSN entering the building.

"Pleasure to see you in this moment of need.", begun the head of VPD shaking Ruby's hand and then doing the same with the other girls.

"What's the situation?" Weiss asked briskly, in that moment, sounding particularly Atlesian.

"Not ideal." He replied grimly. "A lot of Atlesian technology has been stolen...much to General Ironwood's irritation. The kingdom of Atlas has launched their own investigation in collaboration with us... you all are here because I want you to help recover them."

All the four students of Beacon suddenly showed very worried face. Atlas' technology, especially the military section, was the best in all of Remnant. Someone managin to stole it was both very worrying and incredibly dangerous. Blake's brow furrowed in confusion.

"How exactly does multi-billion lien technology get stolen from Atlas of all the kingdoms?"

"I don't know, i guess it has something to do with Roman's new friendship." Joseph admitted. "But, please, follow me."

They stepped into a hall with, where Vlad and many soldiers, both Atlesian and Menagerians, were already present. Beside the bat faunus, which side was soon occuped by Joseph, was an enormous screen that showed images of Atlas' latest prototypes and some photo of Roman and people that worked with him in the past. Quickly, everyone sat down and waited for Vlad to speak.

"As you probably know, Atlesian cargo was stolen just a few days ago," He sighed heavily pointing to all the datas behind him. "General Ironwood has asked for a full investigation and the Council has complied. Therefore we are trying to find any indication as to where the items have disappeared to and protecting whatever kind of materials or technology still remains before it will return to Atlas."

"All of you will be divided into squadrons for this," Joseph added. "One will search within Vale due to the rumors regarding to Roman Torchwick, another will attend a...White Fang event we have discerned the location of, and the others will move what remains in defense. The movement is tomorrow, but we expect another attempt."

Nervous looks were exchanged throughout the room but the young teams slowly nodded.

"Furthermore," Vlad said sharply, switching the screen to show the two kids who attempted to kill Tukson barely a week earlier. "You have to watch for these two, the green haired girl and silver haired boy suspected to be working with...less than desirable people including Torchwick. They attempted to kill our colleagues a few days ago and i'm sure this time they will be more prepared."

Blake flinched at the thought and stared at her hands. Tukson was a dear friend of her and Adam during their days as partners in the White Fang. Discovering he was a spy of Vlad all along was shoking, in its way, but... did Adam know someone was sent to kill the bookseller? Or was he the one who sent the two mysterious kids?

"We don't know their aliases or their goals," Vlad continued. "But we are certain that they are at least aligned with the White Fang and Mister Torchwick. Do not engage them or any other accomplice alone, and call for reinforcements if you must. Now, with respect to your formations…". Alongside him Joseph rapidly clicked a few buttons on his scroll and everyone received a message with said formation. The two Huntsmen passed three days thinking about them, he truly hoped they would work without casualty.

"Ruby?" Weiss pressed once all of RWBY checked their scrolls..

"Movement of the remains," She replied. "With Penny and Ciel. What about you?"

"SDC archives," Weiss paused and tossed back her hair. "Reports of theft, damages, etc. I have plenty of aides that done for me."Yang sighed.

"I'm with a group of SWATS but, hey, at least I know where to go." She then smiled in an almost sick way" I wonder how Junior will react when i'll return in his club full of bodyguard.".

They all turned to Blake, almost scared of what she might say.

"I'm going to check out the White Fang," Blake finally said.

"You're joking, they could recognize you!" Weiss exclaimed. "And don't you remember what happened when we were at the docks?"

"She's right," Yang said mildly. "They'll be betting on it."

Blake scowled.

"I won't be alone. I'll have soldiers and a few others."

She was more than ready to take them down, but, as with the other teams, was made nervous by the impending separation even if they were prepared.

"We'll meet later tonight, be safe," Ruby said perkily, embracing all of them and then joining her squad, excited to work once more with Penny.

* * *

The forests of Mistral were a much different place than downtown Vale. The sunlight was illustrious, and predators and prey were moving in a dance for being sure for ensure a meal to their offsprings and themselves while surviving another day: including Atlanta, the Lion Queen of Anima returning from her latest mission and now searching something that would be included into the orphanage's dinner.

She was beautiful, deadly, and a Huntress of incredible marksman's ability and agility. All she could hope for was success so that she and her kids would have enough money for the next month or two. Someone may call her dumb to leave defenseless an orphanage in the middle of Mistral's low blocks, but her children were trained as fighters themselves and no one was going to take advantage of them while she was gone. After all, the slums of Mistral were dangerous but they were also manageable and a few other people looked on the kids to guarantee their safety.

As she hunted, she checked her weapons. Her bow; her lance/sword and her clawed gauntlets. Jumping through the trees, she tried to notice everything and activated her semblance, a powerful mix of x- ray and thermal vision with some other benefits . It was not long before she spotted a deer. She whistled to herself, and shot it quickly with a wooden arrow(1). It fell over, dead, without any pain. She was about to skin it for meat, but she paused upon noticing something in the sky above: a dark halo that seemed to be expanding and drawing nearer with every second.

Much to her annoyance, it was a Manticora, a powerful flying Grimm that was almost larger than an house... and this one seemed paricularry exceptional even for its own race. It roared furiously and hurled attack towards the ground. Trees fell over and became ashes in a second once it tried to attack Atlanta with an huge breath of fire. Luckily the lion faunus' speed was second only to the late Summer Rose and escaped with her prey but knew she had to fight.

She cursed her anxiety about latest events, and that a species thought to be extinct in the region was now chasing her. She pulsed a shockwave of her Aura trough her sword towards it and a wing snapped. The creature was unfazed and continued to shoot fire balls at the Huntress. She ducked out of the way with her prey, and then shot the Grimm with almost impossible deterixty in his legs and the last wing. It let out a mighty cry but she shot it in the neck to distract it. After dodging another barrage of flame attacks, charged at it with her lance.

Atlanta got hit by its tail, but managed to slash it a few times despite the pain. She violently trashed and screamed. She was not ready to die, and she was going to kill it before it could claim her as its prey. It was long, but she outsmarted it and slammed her lance clean through its head before completely cutting it. The beast fell over: dead. She sighed as she watched it disappear and then swore under her breath, taking from her pockets a weird object, a jar made of a material similar to glass which started to absorb the black powder which appread in the air.

"Medea told me to absorb the biggest and tougher Grimm i would find. I think you fit the bill." She muttered, sucking what remained of the Manticora into the glass jar. She stared at it into disdain and she feared what the hell could happen if a Grimm of that scale had gotten near the capital. "They wouldn't have come anywhere near here a few years ago…"

The last election cycle had been five years earlier and, since then, the new council had cut defense spending which included also the funds for Haven and tmost Huntsmen. Instead, money was going to business and focused on civilian activities... owned mostly by the councilman themselves and those in their paycheck. It was a ploy for consolidating wealth.

They were power-hungry to say the least, and they were viewed by the public, at least those of lower classe or the inhabitants of several village, as assholes. There was little faith in the system as of. Leonardo had supported them at first, hoping the new generation of Huntsmen would benefit in the long run, but left the group once he realized what they had really been supporting.

They were similar to Jacques Schnee, and none of them cared if others suffered. The professors had to sacrifice over half their pay to keep Haven running, and it was horrible. They were trapped and happiness could not last when the Grimm would finally enact their mistress' plan. Remnant had just entered the next chapter of its bloody history, and no one could predict the winner. **  
**

* * *

1) I wanted to explain this element into the story right now, but it didn't fit. Pretty much when Atlanta was still a student, she used several kind of Dust infused arrows. With the needs of her children becoming more and more pressing, she had to renounce that part of her arsenal and started using wooden arrows, all of this while refining costantly her Aura manipulation. With the level in this discipline she has now and her aim, even a normal arrow becomes nearly as deadly as the best missile of Atlas.

* * *

Hello, guys, hoping to don't be so late and that the chapter satisfied you. This is where things will derail more and more, and i hope you like what i'll do, this mini saga will be divided in three chapters included this one. As always it was checked by Semblanceofinvisibility. I wish lots of you will review and tell me what you like or didn't like, i'll try to fix.


	12. Chapter 12: Slayers- part 2

Slayer- part 2

Vale was probably the largest city in Remnant, and the second most advanced after Atlas. It had a relatively low crime rating in comparison to Mistral and Vacuo. Along with its good natural (or artificial) defenses, the Kingdom was one of the favorite places for profugos, Huntsmen in search of peace and, as it happened, criminals that wanted to build their empire. Even the most illustrious palace would have its own rats, after all, and their king had just returned after his little vacation.

In one of the back streets, Roman Torchwick sniffed the air. He welcomed the familiar feeling of Dust, easy money, and concrete in his nose while the twilight sun shined upon him.

"Ah, it is so good to be back," The master thief said, all while playing with Melodic Cudgel.

Neo was just up ahead, jumping from building to building while covered by her semblance to be sure, first, that no one else was around. His other companion, though, wasn't happy with his chirpy demeanor and didn't have a problem letting it show.

"Done yet?" Gilgamesh asked in irritation. The last gift that Salem gave him barely managed to soft his bad mood.

The ancient king of Uruk was, in fact, in his human form just like the two other servants at Beacon. They had the same kind of necklace as him, too, which allowed them to take those forms. He had blonde hair and eyes of a lighter shade of red. His attire consisted in a black jacket and pants, with a white shirt. He looked like a motorcyclist with those clothes.

Like such a rebel, he had not lost chances in the last few minutes to complain about his slavers. Luckily, even for the mongrel Roman was, he had managed to gain a bit of respect in the eyes of Gilgamesh. Or, at least, unlike others in Salem's upper tier, Gilgamesh tolerated the thief well enough, mainly due to his sense of humor. .

"C'mon, m'lord, Vale deserves to know its true king has returned," Roman paused and then went on for his own wellbeing. "And I must also give you my welcome to my empire, as an even more prominent king."

Gilgamesh trough was not impressed by Roman's welcome, even when the man opened his arms (literally) to him.

"Welcome accepted, Roman, thank you,", he said flatly and then sighed, hoping to return to the peace of their refuge.

But the King of Heroes had to admit he did not dislike this era. It was not his favorite, but still, he could admire how the humans and faunus had progressed so much even with the threat of grimm in such a short time after their greatest war. The city he was visiting was a testament to it: vehicles of all kinds, advanced weapons, data, technology, and that was just scratching the surface.

While the Huntsmen and Huntresses were, for the most part, far from the skill of the ancient warriors he knew, they compensated for their relative weakness with incredible skill. It almost fascinated him.

Roman did not respond right away and lit a cigar.

. "But where's the meeting with those faunus?" He pressed. "I'd like to hurry up."

Roman did not respond right away and lit a cigar.

"Very close to where we took the first bit of cargo," He eventually told him, offering one to his Grimm bodyguard who waved it away. "You know the old saying: "if you want to hide something, hide it in plain sight?"

Gilgamesh nodded calmly.

"Of course. I have used it many times, after all."

"Then relax, your majesty," Roman told him. "I also advise you to calm down, since it's thanks to you we took all those mercs without trouble. You deserve to relax a bit, ,my lord."

"Right," Gilgamesh said. Despite everything (and especially with Cinder and Adam), he couldn't shake the habit of asserting his authority. " But remember you still need to prove your use."

"Oh, come on, haven't I done that enough already?" Roman complained, taking a draw on his cigar.

Gilgamesh turned to him, looking as imposing and serious as ever.

"You know," He said curtly. "I used to have ten slaves, and you know what I did? I told them that anyone who was no longer needed would be killed."

Roman blinked, suddenly very interested. Gilgamesh always seemed to surprise him either in his words or actions, that was another reason they overall went pretty along.

"How many of them survived?" the orange haired man asked, genuinely curious.

"I couldn't kill any of them," The King of Uruk replied, shocking his colleague. "Each of them were necessary, somehow."

Roman dropped his cigar and snuffed it out.

"Very well, Lord Gilgamesh," he finally said, bowing to the king and praying to not be the next target of his wrath. "Take the lead. I'll be sure to stay useful."

Gilgamesh chuckled dryly.

"For your sake, I hope so."

With that, they stepped into the meeting place.

* * *

This night on Vale's docks were much calmer than they had been the last Team RWBY had been there. Most Atlesian soldiers were speaking with each other in their group while they guarded military cargos while someone decided with the SWATs and Menagerie soldiers. Overall, the last two groups had managed to get along over the last week. The Huntresses were doing the same. Even Ciel was talking with some soldiers in a more friendly manner than she usually did near the cargo.

"This is so nice, we're doing a lovely job," Penny said, happily walking alongside Ruby between the materials as if it were a normal hangout.

"Totally," Ruby smiled, although she kept Crescent Rose ready to shoot. She had learned from her fights with Roman in the last few months to never let her guard down. "Although, from what Officer Baker told us, I was expecting at least one attack so far."

Penny shrugged.

" Better for us. Oh, by the way! Where did Yang go? If i'm not wrong she was with Sage."

Ruby turned bright pink. Yang's personal life wasn't something they talked about much at home, especially when it bought her near certain people.

"To a bar owned by a...friend," the young Huntress finally said. "He tends to have a lot of information on seemingly everything and will sell it to the highest bidder. Please don't ask in what circumstances they knew each other."

"Don't worry, I won't," Penny said, brushing off her skirt. "We're going to get to the bottom of this. Ciel was pissed off, although I heard General Ironwood was pretty upset too. I saw him, Professor Ozpin, and MIss Goodwitch talking about sending all rhe remaining weapons and droids to Atlas. They're all pretty irritated."

Ruby sighed.

"Well, for now let's be sure that the White Fang won't be taking more of this."

While the girls continued the conversation, two Menagerie soldiers passed by, evidently discussing something similar.

"I can't believe the Albains. of all people, have done what they have," One of them remarked in a bitter tone. "They were strong pacifists and now…"

"Agreed," The other said, not noticing how the girls were listening. "Fennec used to let me copy off him when we were in middle school. He was so nice…"

If anything could have drawn their attention, that was it.

"What are you talking about?" Ruby hesitantly askedThey turned around in surprise and eyed her for a moment until they recognized her.

"You're the leader of Miss Belladonna's team, right?", demanded the man that spoke first.

Ruby nodded although she was surprised they knew who she was.

"Leader and partner," she replied. "Who were you talking about, if it's okay for me to ask?"  
They shared a long look but then one of them shook their head.

"You're probably supposed to know," The first soldier finally said. "A couple in Menagerie's section of the White Fang were planning a coup d'etat against our chieftain and General Drakul. We were sent to Vale after we received a confession - which included a connection to Adam Taurus."

Penny and Ruby gasped in horror. They knew how horrible the consequences would be if Ghira or Vladdied.

"What?" the girls exclaimed at the same time. She understood that an organization composed predominantly of faunus would have at least some influence over the affairs of Menagerie, but she never imagined they would go that far.

"They seriously tried that?", wondered Penny with a tone scared as never before. She tried to imagine what would happen if Ironwood suffered the same fate those Albains wanted for general Drakul. The answer was ' nothing good for Atlas'.

"Sadly, yes. But, anyway, for now they're in custody. Our companions in Menagerie won't let them go, although they still regularly contact Adam as if nothing had happened.", explained the other man.

"Genius," Penny complimented, but oth of the soldiers' eyes darkened watching behind the green clothed girl.

"I thought this was supposed to be a nice night," One of them muttered upon seeing some mist in the distance.  
Ruby paused, confused for a moment until she saw it was everywhere. Then, she remembered how the mist had last preceded a terrible situation the last time she had seen it.

" Oh, damn, I've seen that before!" Ruby exclaimed.

A terrible scream pierced through the night and, when she turned around, she saw a soldier fall to the ground. In front of him was a little girl that was sickly white and had red eyes, with two black knives in her hands. This was Jack the Ripper in all of her gory glory.

"She tried to finish the job, but Ruby was quicker and hit her in the eye with a bullet of fire Dust right in the eye. Penny immediatly taken her swords and shot the killer with a series of lasers, but all the attacks were avoided with backflips and jumps by Jack, before she countered them with her revolver.

"Someone help that man!" Ruby told the others, gesturing to the fallen soldier. "And don't worry about the girl, we'll take care of her."

The reaper activated her semblance and chased her enemy into a rapid clash of blades that lasted for several second with both contendants trying to find a weak point. In a brief moment of rest, however, Ruby could see where she had shot the girl there was an hole, who was more than a little bit angry about it.

"You hurt me…" She venomously hissed while her eye regenerated itself and the hold on her knives tightened.

Jack moved towards Ruby and began fighting once more. She was aiming for the kill but she only hit Crescent Rose, which was now closed in its rifle form. It was true that the little Grimm girl (or whatever she was) was better at close-range combat than Ruby and physicallty stronger. Yet Ruby herself was not helpless and had many years of training over her - both with her uncle and her teammates. She was stronger than she had been the last time they had fought.

The young reaper parried all of Jack's attacks with Crescent Rose in its rifle form until she finally channeled a burst of Aura within her muscles to send away her enemy for the time being. She remembered what had happened the last time they had fought, with Jack only wounding her targets and forcing them to cure them for witnesses.

It had been a distraction, and Ruby realized that the cargo was at risk. She moved to fight her with Penny but Jack managed to escape the fire and created a portal that summoned forth several packs of Grimm. All the soldiers readied their weapons and rushed to the new beastly intruders. Ruby meanwhile rushed to the side of the fallen soldier opening her path trough Grimm with bullets and slashes.

"How is he?" Ruby called to Ciel once she arrived, recognizing that the fallen soldier was not in good condition.

"He'll live, if no one tries anything funny," the dark skinned Huntress told her. "His aura should heal the damage."

Ruby turned back to the fight, recharging Crescent Rose with some of her most powerful projectiles.

"We need to stop her now…" She swore under her breath, hardening her gaze and running into the fight once more. Right in that moment two new figure apperead on a cargo, one wearing a gray cloack and the other a green one, but they both wore Grimm mask. The first intruder jumped on a group of Atlesians putting them on the ground using a swift barrage of kicks, while the other shoot at everything that wasn't a Grimm using two green revolver.

"Shit…" Neptune moaned, pushing his Aura into his rifle and attaccking their new enemies as the battle flared around them.

In the chaos, Ruby could think of only one option left to them.

"We need back up," She said, pulling out her scroll and smashing in the emergency call button.

* * *

"Are these supposed to be scary?"

Sun looked disdainfully at the masks the White Fang had given them when they had arrived at the meeting. It felt like a bad imitation of a Grimm mask , with red marks that he thought would be scarier in make up. He and the other faunus with him, including Blake and Emil, had found out with ease where the meeting would be, after all.

The Haven student and his brother in arms trough couldn't help but compare those things with what they useually wore on mission. The assassin masks he and his brothers and sisters wore on missions were far more realistic. The masks they were holding were nothing like King Hassan's. Their masks were designed the be terrifying, so that they permitted the wielders to maintain their dignity. They were Hassan's messengers of life and death.

Above all else, they were messengers of balance.

"Yeah, Adam started the trend," Blake told him, and he was drawn back into the moment from his thoughts. "Since humanity wants to see us as monsters...he thought we should look the part. With each of his so called victory more and more of our ranks taken one as well."

Mer, a rhinoceros faunus soldier with grey skin snorted.

"They don't even know how a monster is supposed to look."

"Agreed, dude," Emil added, his arms crossed. "Let's hope we don't have to fight them tonight."

There were too many civilians that attended these rallies, listening for the type of carnage the White Fang seemed to promise. Emil, as he had always been taught, did not want the innocents to get caught in the crossfire. Still, they were prepared.

Mer, the explosives expert, also happened to be the leader of their little group. Other members were Nier, who was a shark faunus and a hand-to-hand combat expert. Roy, the bee faunus, was a firearms specialist while Den was a tall cheetah kid who was fast as hell and had amazing aim. He kept a gun in his tail for that reason. And then there was Mata, who was a close-range, heavy armor weapons specialist and a goat faunus more than willing to headbut enemies with his horns.

All of them had joined their commander on more than one mission and had, before, dealt with high-ranking members of the White Fang. All eight faunus were in constant contact with them, thanks to the hidden cameras and microphones they were using to record the meeting. The moment something illegal was revealed by the White Fang, the Valerian Police Department's reinforcements would arrive and make their arrests.

The small commando quickly entered the compound for the meeting and, thankfully, no one took their weapons. The crowd trough was simply massive and it seemed at least a quarter of Vale's faunus were there. It was quite worrying to the group as they hid near the stage with the others that had come to watch. Then, in front of all of them, appeared a muscular man whose visage was completely hidden by a mask.

Blake immediately recognized him as one of Adam's closest confidents and the thought made her sick.

"Thank you all for being here," The lieutenant started, eerily polite.

" It isn't a good sign when they start polite," Mer remarked dry. They all agreed, and watched as the lieutenant pointed towards where two figures were hiding in the shadows.

"Tonight we are going to meet two of our closest accomplices," He informed the crowd. "Mister Roman Torchwick...and Lord Gilgamesh.", the man concluded with a sliglty scared tone. To the great surprise of the military group, Roman walked on the scene witth a blonde young man just behind him, watching the crowd with what seemed contempt. Blake for a second it was just normal racism, but there was something different compared to the looks she was used to, more like he didn't consider the faunus inferiorm. Simply he knew to be superior to anyone else.

Mata leaned over to Blake, sensing something odd just as his princess.

"Do you know the blonde guy?"Blake shook her head.

"Never seen him before."She tried to extend her Aura to get a sense of Roman's new accomplice and it caused her to flinch. His Aura was an ocean of pure golden energy. The only word adapt to describe him was monster. Seeing her discomfort, Sun put an hand on her shoulders.

" I know it doesn't seem good, Blake, but keep your eyes peeled," the blonde assassin whispered, looking around. "I'm pretty sure that also Neo is around."

Meanwhile the other faunus in the crowd were even more pissed to see the human and didn't have any problem to voice it out.

"What the hell are they doing here?", a girl with small antlers yelled.

"Calm down." Roman said, waving his hands dismissively. "We also have problems with the governments, with the academies, and the so-called "Remnant Liberation Army." Humans really are the worst...and I've got the right tools for the job of taking them down."

Glass exploded off of the wave of his hands, which confirmed Neo's presence. Several Atlesian weapons, mechs, and Paladins were exposed when the dust settled in all the angles and on the stage. To say Blake and the rest of her squad were horrified was the underestament of the century: it was an absolute miracle they didn't shit themselves right where they were while Roman kept talking.

"Oh, shit," Mata said, watching in terror as they saw the weapons of mass destruction continue to be revealed. They had been designed to protect the people but, in the hands of the White Fang, they would be used to kill eyed the scene as everyone around them began cheering for the White Fang.

"We have to do something now," He said.

"What?" Sun gestured to the people around them who, it seemed, were all being buyed into following the White Fang. "We can't start a fight here!"

Luckyly they were in continues contact with one of the most cold blooded man in all of Remnant.

"This isn't as bad as it seems," Vlad told them through an earphone. "Calm down."

They were far from it, though, and Dan raised his hand, eagerly taking the opportunity when Roman gave him permission to speak.

"Are you out of your mind?!" The cheetah screamed, his aura flaring and startling everyone in attendance.

"What?" Roman was stunned. He had not expected the outburst nor the sheer show of power. He had come expecting people to worship his speech, but someone with common sense was in the crowd? It was beyond his comprehension.

"You've just given Atlas a damn good reason to attack Menagerie if they want to!" Mer yelled.  
The crowd was now divided and the noise of the chatter seemed to become deafening, some agreeing with those mysterious faunus and other still under the charm of Roman's charisma.

"Calm down," The lieutenant said, although it was to no avail as half the crowd was becoming louder in their anger towards the White Fang. "We can assure nothing will happen to Menagerie -"

Blake didn't hear the rest of his words. She was at a loss. When she had chosen to leave the White Fang, it had been to protect innocent people. Now, it seemed, those innocents were ready for war. They were uninformed, and it showed. After all, Menagerie was not just another village that needed defending. Perhaps Weiss had been right. They really were mad, and they really were hypocrites.

"What should I do?" She whispered in disperation into the microphone. "Uncle Vlad?"

"I think it's time we go in," Joseph answered before Vlad.

"Don't worry, we have control, Joseph. Blake, ask this question."Vlad told her what to say and her eyes went wide in wonder after listening.

"You're a fucking genius," She replied, laughing a little.

"I know," Vlad said. "We'll arrive in a few minutes. Hang on."

Determined once more, Blake walked towards the sage. Sun watched with the others, their hands on their weapons in case she were attacked. As it happened, it seemed they had no immediate desire to worsen the situation. For once, Blake's smile was as evil as Roman's own and he was curious about her plans. He had thought it would be easy to convince the faunus to join them, but this setback intrigued him, to say the least.

" Oh **,** kitty cat," He scoffed using a fake sense of cheerness. "What do you want?"

Blake stared at him angrily but her voice was steady.

"Just one question," She told him. "Does Sienna Khan know about this?", the whole warehouse fell silent and Roman swore under his breath. The damn cat had a point. If the true leader of the White Fang wasn't aware of the operation, then was there a point to it? Would it even have a chance for success?

The lieutenant looked nervous and in lack of better ideas, choose the worst.

"Well...you see...our leader -", he tried to say before being cut off.

"Sienna doesn't know," Roman snapped. "And she doesn't need to."

Even more people now disagreed with the thief and roared alongside the Menagerie commando. Emil was with them

"Of course she needs to!", he jumped up alongside Blake and his affirmation was taken well by several other faunus. "Hierarchy exists for a reason! And by curiosity, how did Adam contact you?"

Roman crossed his arms. For a second he turned to Gilgamesh, but the man's face just said ' do this on your own'.

"He didn't," He told them. "We made a deal with him."

"Blake," Vlad spoke only to her and her group through the earphone. "This is the last part of the speech. Do your best. We will arrive soon."

She turned back to Roman and shook her head.

"Why would he make a deal with you? Because of the goodness in your heart?" Blake sighed. "At the end of the day, it seems Adam has sunk lower than any of us - including myself - thought. You're no better, either. Taking advantage of our desperation to gain what you want; it's despicable."  
Most of the crowd seemed to have gone suddenly quiet and many of them were leaving. They were scared by the power behind theAuras around them and the revelations were disturbing at best.

"Let me repeat," Mer added, coming forward. "The White Fang no longer cares about the faunus. Only themselves. Do not trust them!"

Almost everyone in the crowd began to cheer in agreement with Mata. The ones that didn't quietly left the building, afraid of what was to come. As Sun glanced around, not enough people seemed to be gone. In his mind, the place needed to be completely empty besides them and their enemies if they wanted

to fight to their full extent.

"Vlad Drakul and the VPD are going to be here soon," Sun casually added, knowing it would be enough to scare the rest of the people out. "You might want to leave."  
Nothing else could have cleared the place out more quickly and no one who left dared look back.

"Cowards!" The lieutenant of the White Fang yelled.  
Neo appeared alongside them with a wicked grin.

"So, kitty cat, i ask again" Roman turned back to Blake, rather disgruntled. "What do you and your little rascals want?"

"Same as last time," She replied, ready for battle along with her companions. "To ensure the White Fang doesn't make things worse or cause damage."

Roman rolled his eyes and waved Gilgamesh forward. The man emerged with a cocky smirk. Sheer power hit Blake and her companions but they stood their ground.

"Very well," The blonde said, opening several dark portals. "Let me see what you can do."

* * *

Weiss and Yang's groups ran into each other in the center of Vale. Besides the two girls, there were several SWATs and Atlesian soldiers as well as Scarlet, sage and Souichirou. They all were aiding the investigation as best they could.

"What'd you find?" Yang asked quickly.

Weiss sighed and her partner was immediately but on edge. That was far from a good thing, and it was lucky Yang had always liked a challenge.

"We found out that Vale is the heart of every Dust robbery in Remnant," Weiss told her. She'd gotten information from Forest Versketct. He was a classically high-tier Atlesian: snobby, assholish, and racist. Yet, no matter the query, he always told Weiss what she wanted to know. Weiss supposed that was because she was threatened in someway by Lancelot or Klein. "There are some in other kingdoms, but every is focused here."

Souichirou turned on Yang.

"What about you?"

"We heard Roman wasn't around that long," She replied. "Not since we met him at the docks. Neo gave the order for his machinations and a girl that resembles Jack is working underground...mostly killing other criminals or undercover police officers. And here the weirder part, she looks totally human too."

"Wait…" Sage paused, as surprised as his partner. "Jack? The girl that Sun talked about? I thought he was joking when he said there was a human-grimm hybrid."

"I wish," Yang muttered. "Junior mentioned this girl with white hair that was ruthless and far too strong for her age despite seeming completely human in every other way. The description is too familiar for a coincidence."

They all took on a rather bleak expression.

"Wait, what?" Weiss exclaimed. "She can make herself human? You have got to be kidding me!"  
Jack was already capable of hiding in plain sight, and she would be worse with Neo to help her.

"Don't worry," Yang said, placing a hand on her teammate's shoulder. "We can take on her and her boss. We haven't spent the last few weeks lying around, have we?"  
Weiss sighed and watched her teammates.

"Thanks, Yang…"

They were now certain that Roman was only a pawn in a much greater scheme. He was not capable of orchestrating something as massive as this, even if he did have the help of the White Fang and others criminal cartels. The latter would not help him, not much, at any rate. Mistral and Vacuo's outlaws answered only to themselves and the same was true for the White Fang. Souichirou was explaining as much. Roman was a charismatic and intelligent leader, and he remained an annoyance to most of the huntsmen in Vale.

That was why Roman had never tried to expand his influence beyond Vale. There was no way that he had managed to convince all of those groups to help him. They all were now in agreement and were on the way to police station. They began to discuss their next move but Yang paused upon her scroll going off. When she answered, there was only a sharp yell from her sister.

"Help!"

* * *

Blake had thought that her squad would have a chance in the fight, even against someone as powerful as Gilgamesh. As it had happened, she was wrong. The mysterious warrior began to launch weapons from the portals faster than they could launch projectiles and he had not moved an inch. All eight of the faunus could only run with the help of their Aura in order to avoid the onslaught. It was so great a distraction that Roman had no problems escaping from Neo's illusions.

"Is that all you can do?" Gilgamesh mocked. "You mongrels?"

Most his opponents were on the ground, struggling to regain their breath and some energy. Mata even ended up taking a hit directed at Blake, who was miraculously still on her feet alongside Emil and Sun.

"Do you want my guns in your face, asshole?" Roy yelled, trying to get up despite being previously Gilgamesh wasn't holding back, then it would only be a matter of time before they were all dead.

"Guys…" Emil said, rising up and covering his tonfas in elemental energy. "I've got something that might work if you cover me."They nodded and Sun turned to Blake.

"How many clones can you make?"

She considered that for a moment. Ruby had them push their semblances to the limit only a few days earlier and she had at managed six. Weiss had materialized quite a bit of an Arma Gigas, while Yang had endured terrible assaults until she could counter them with her own. Her training in mind, she steadied herself with her weapons tightly in hand.

"At most six," She told him. "Maybe seven if I'm pushing."

"That'll work," Sun said, tossing her some light Dust and taking one himself. "Take this."  
The pair quickly summoned as many clones as they could while their companions, those who were still on their feet, at any rate, and began to fight Gilgamesh while the copies of them flew around in massive distraction until they exploded in a burst of light similar to a little. Gilgamesh covered his eyes and let out a terrible yell. Emil took advantage of his situation and shot himself forward with a burst of gravity and his weapons were in flame.

He struck the golden tyrant with full force and the entire building trembled. Gilgamesh was launched into the wall behind them and the force completely demolished it. His enemies sighed in relief. Emil laughed until he felt an incredible wave of killer instinct aimed at him. If it hadn't been for training with Hassan, he'd probably be on his knees right now, it was like being a little puppy against a Grimm dragon.

Gilgamesh reappeared in front of him with near impossible speed. He was now in his true appearance. Armor as black as night and deathly white hair and skin while his eyes were darker than blood itself. It was in that moment he realized he was truly afraid.

"Congratulations, mongrel," Gilgamesh said, his voice so cold the room froze. "I will honor your feat by killing you swiftly."

He summoned a portal and removed a lance from it, ready to kill.

"No!" A voice suddenly declared, followed by a burst of white flames that singed the floor and descended with hidden figure who landed in front of the wolf faunus. His misterious savior was a red haired man covered by a greek armor with weapons of every kind scattered all across his build

"L..Lord Iskandar," Emil breathed a sigh of relief at the Huntsman's sudden appearance. He and his companions gathered around the man, hoping he would be able to protect them all.

"Don't worry." The Conqueror said, pointing his sword at Gilgamesh who seemed just quite amused "I am here to end this now."

* * *

Good morning, guys, i hope this chapter managed to satisfy you despite the several flaws. Say what you have to and i'll try to remedy( as always i thanks my beta, Semblanceofinvisibility. Those of you who want to read something different go on her stories, they're amazing). Next update will be after the holidays, so good Christmas and Happy new year.

Ah, certain readers are pointing out Gilgamesh can't be corrupted this way. Probably chapter 7 confused you, but what Salem is doing isn't just making the Servants she summons pseudo Alter, the substance she uses is very connected to the Nasuverse and is much more powerful. Midway trough Volume 4 things will be explained.

Pluse, the spell Salem is using for summoning her Servants is far from perfection, so at least for a while some of their powers will be weakened or entirely missing. That's why Ruby and the others still remember Jack's appereances and abilities.


	13. Chapter 13:Slayers-part 3

Slayers- part 3

The docks transformed, once again, into a real battlefield for Ruby. Once the soldiers, SWAT team, and hunters managed to organize themselves in their teamwork numbers, Jack strengthened further the mist and summoned forth other grimm to balance their forces. No elder grimm appeared, luckily, but there were still enough to cause problems for most of the Atlesian soldiers.

The warriors of Menagerie, used to a hellish daily training or to skirmish in all of Remnant, managed to rip the heads and arms off of the black beasts or blow entire holes into them with a single shot. The only thing, though, that kept the battle form becoming hell on earth was the fact that all of the fighters knew that a wrong hit on the container would blow them all up, so neither side used their full power.

This, however, gave an advantage to Jack and his companions. They moved fast and hit hard, but, for some reason, the defenders felt weaker and colder as the time passed. Neptune was busy cutting down Creeps with his trident-naginata, which was powered by electric Dust that covered the weapon in blue lightning.

He was silently thankful for Sun's training on Dust manipulation, and then he inserted an ice crystal and proceeded to shoot a powerful, freezing several opponents.

"Neptune!" Ruby screamed, busy with the grey accomplice of Jack. The kid, apparently a normal human based on his Aura, was the most dangerous enemy after the girl. He hit Ruby with a swift barrage of kicks that went under her guard and that she barely managed to dodge with her semblance. She countered Dust projectiles when she got the chance but she was also under attack by other Grimm and knew she wouldn't last long without assistance. Luckily, the crimson Huntress had a plan to quickly end her opponent, but it included the help of the blue-haired Huntsman. "I need help!"

"On it!" He answered, charging more ice Dust into his rifle and aiming at the mysterious fighter with a powerful laser. Before he could react, his legs were trapped by a layer of ice.

Ruby, far from wasting on such an occasion, immediately jumped, charging an Aura slash in her scythe, and launched it toward the grey assailant but an Ursa covered him with its body. Ruby's attack, which could have been a one shot kill, clashed against the creature in a show of sparks until it split in two. They grey-dressed criminal then rose from the ground and watched the reaper in disdain, polishing himself off from the ice and Grimm remains.

"Nice trick, but I've stopped playing, brat," He said in his male voice, beginning a new round of kicks against Ruby, who barely blocked them with Crescent Rose's blades. Her hands felt like two pieces of ice and, this time, she was alone as everyone else had their attention focused on Jack or were too cold to move.

"Why the hell are you working with Jack? You're not a Grimm!" Ruby screamed in the hope of distracting her opponent and keep hitting him at the same time, but she knew she was also on the receiving end of some incredibly fast and powerful kicks. Their weapons were clashing in sparks brighter than ever while even the floor cracked from their strength. SHe wasn't sure how much longer she could resist but knew Weiss and Yang wouldn't be late.

"Why do you care?" The mysterious thief replied, surprising her with an Aura-infused punch to her nose that sent Ruby directly into a container. The crimson reaper was suddenly saved by a little group of Vlad's soldiers, who covered the man in a barrage of bullets - something Ruby began to help in once she had fixed herself.

"I'm just trying to understand what the heck is going on!" Ruby yelled, though she was feeling weaker and slower with cold entering her very bones. Maybe it had something to do with the mist? "Who's Jack?" She asked, enraged. "Are there others like her?"

Before she could figure out what was going on or hear a response, someone came to her aid. A union of burning projectiles and blue lasers hit the grey assailant before blasting him from the others across the battlefield while Yang and Weiss ran, like savior angles, to the other members of their team and their respective squad.

"Ruby! Are you okay?" The blonde brawler asked, running to her sister while Souichiro and the others took care of the remaining grimm. The snake faunus, though, was interrupted by the grey enemy, who countered with his mix of daggers and martial arts.

"I'm fine," Ruby told her, taking in what was happening just a few meters away. Weiss cut down a beowolf and sniffed the air, having easily recognized what Jack was using against the defenders. "But we have several wounded men and and the mist is constantly weakening us."

"Okay," Weiss said rapidly, addressing Yang. "I use Dust too much to not recognize it. Jack infused her mist with ice dust. It's not enough to freeze us immediately but the cold will become more and more harmful given time."

"Well, we should have enough fire Dust to destoy it." Yang started, destroying an uUsa but, when more of his companions stepped forward, a storm of lasers destroyed them with ease. Behind the Xiao Long girl, Medea walked slowly in her combat attire flaring with the sheer power of Aura and Dust of highest quality.

"No, Yang, fire Dust would do more harm than good," Medea told her before activating her semblance at full power. Rapidly, the mist, enveloped with ice dust, retreated alongside the cold to the relief of all of them beyond Jack and her accomplices. "Luckily, I'm here."

"That's her semblance?" Ruby exclaimed. She had heard several stories - some of which she had read (from when Medea had been interviewed and spoke briefly about her power to relate new and old theories) - about the witch's ability to create radiation that nullified aura and dust, but she hadn't thought it would be so effective in just a few seconds. "I didn't think it was that powerful!"

This was further proof of how far she was from being a professional Huntress, Ruby realized, but then the fate of the battles rapidly turned: except in one case.

"Weiss, what are you doing?" Yang yelled, punching Grimm after Grimm. From her viewpoint Weiss was swinging around her and firing glyphs yet she hit no one.

 **"** What do you think? I'm fending off these monsters!" The heiress yelled, buring what she thought was a Beowolf in front of her before dodging a bullet aimed at her head. The shot was followed by a series of slashes from an invisible someone, which Weiss managed to dodge or block with her honed instincts from Lancelot's training. Finally, she created a glyph in front of her blocking another slash. All of the Grimm suddenly disappeared, while the thief clothed in green appeared out of thin air.

With a flash in retaliation, Weiss understood that all of her opponents were illusions. She gritted her teeth. Being manipulated or used had always been something she loathed.

' _Oh shit_ ,' the girl thought before getting hit by Myrtenaster, which was now covered in flames. She tried to counter, pouring as much aura as she could into her sickles, blocking a few attacks followed with a kick to Weiss' stomach, which the heiress still managed to parry with another glyph.

"Time to sleep, girl," The white-haired huntress joked, channeling gravity Dust into a glyph and sending her opponent backwards and causing the opponent to crash on Jack of all people. Soichiro was also taking care of that last enemy. His daggers clashed against Jack's aura, but he kept countering them with little problems.

"Mhmm not bad. It's been a long time since I've had to resort to using my semblance. Don't expect my thanks," The snake faunus said before several snake heads appeared behind him and grabbed the opponent, launching him against the two accomplices who were rapidly surrounded by all sorts of firearms that were ready to turn them all to pieces if necessary.

All three thieves could do was raise their hands into the air and remain still, at least, until Medea ordered them to take off their masks, revealing Emerald and Mercury.

"Hey, Tukson, aren't these the kids who tried to murder you?" A faunus soldier asked, seeing the two kids and remembering who they were. Tukson advanced within the crowd and looked at them closely before finally smirking.

"Yep," He answered before a SWAT team member went to the trio with Aura cuffs at the ready. "They're definitely them, unless they have twins somewhere."

"Very well, kids," The SWAT said. "You're under arrest for criminal association and attempted murder and robbery. Anything you say can and will be…" Before he could finish, little balls of metal rolled under everyone's feet. Penny tried to pick one up, but it released a cloud of smoke with the others.

"Coff, someone eliminate this smoke, please!" Ruby pleaded, tears unwilling rising in her eyes. Medea, once again, came to their aid by using a blast of wind infused with the Dust from her clothes to dispel the wind. Everyone could see again, but their prisoners were gone.

"Damnit!" The scientist yelled. "Search everywhere for them -"

"Mom, where could they be?" Souichiro asked.

"And how did they escape?" Penny added.

"Some of them must have a stealth semblance or...maybe there was another accomplice hidden. In case things went wrong for them," Medea theorized. She was right. The trio of assailants were on the ceiling alongside their savior, covered by long robes with all of them breathing heavily.

"They've already started looking for us. Better leave before they call the bullheads," The new member said in their gentle yet authoritarian voice.

"I don't know how to thank you, Archer," Emerald said, focusing more Aura into her arm to shake the feeling from all of the projectiles she had been shot by. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so sore.

"Damn, we didn't think they would be so prepared."

"Can't we attack them again?" Mercury asked, albeit in no better shape than his partner. "I mean, we can't bring the White Fang with us but you could easily deal with all of them especially if you summon some elder grimm."

"That is a great compliment from you, Mercury, but I must decline. Medea Seaspell can easily block my powers, and those forces will wipe me out. Besides, you need to rest. Roman and Cinder will have to manage with what they have." The warrior replied, before taking out a little ball of glass and smashing it into the ground, enveloping them all in a purple nebula.

* * *

The eight faunus that went to investigate a simple case of thievery looked in awe at the almost divine apparition of the Conqueror, Iskandar Scarlatina, in all of his might. He was clad in armor head to toe, with several guns and knives hidden in plain sight alongside charged Dust of the highest quality.

"Mister Scarlatina, is…" One of Vlad's soldiers tried to explain, but he fell to the ground unconscious before he could finish. He had already lost nearly all of his Aura from taking a direct hit.

"Kids, the VPD and Vlad are coming to take you to the hospital," Iskandar instructed the group of faunus spies who immediately thanked him and fled. "Go!"

Gilgamesh watched the huge commander with an indifferent expression but a more cautious observer would have noticed the hint of interest in his red eyes.

"I have to admit, I didn't expect to see you right here and now...King of Conquerors."

"Vlad asked for my help in case extra muscle was needed, and I could say the same for you. It disgusts me, seeing the first of us in such a horrible state."

"Unworthy forces tried to make Me their toy, but, if they believe I'll remain on their orders, they're very wrong.", affirmed Gilgamesh in a show of pure rage clenching his fists.

"Then I'll help you get freed by destroying this corrupted puppet!" The might general sheathed his sword and ran towards Gilgamesh faster than even Ruby Rose could have. Gilgamesh, while not new to his opponent's gift of metahuman speed, was shocked by the rush. On instinct, he summoned a portal that contained a sword aimed directly at Iskandar's forehead, yet his opponent was faster.

He managed to get behind Gilgamesh's guard and hit him with three Aura-infused slashes followed by a powerful kick. The Grimm warrior didn't seem to be highly affected thanks to his armor, but his eyes said otherwise. He felt a strange pain, similar to burns, getting inside of his body. To counterattack, he created other portals which dozens of weapons emerged from to hit Iskandar. Without flinching, the Huntsman coated his sword in white flames again to block the onslaught of projectiles.

"That power...is not truly yours, is it Iskandar?" Gilgamesh asked, curious after having sensed something unusual in his opponent's energy. "It's created by your Aura, but it isn't Dust or your semblance. Not

alone, anyway."

"If you want to get an answer, you'll cover all the cargo with a barrier of some kind. A single error in our fight, and half of Vale will blow up."

"A more than reasonable request," The black-armored king simply answered before shooting several papers over the cargo from his beloved portals, which covered all of the cargo in blue barriers. Iskandar silently thanked him before pulling out two pistols and shooting at Gilgamesh who effortlessly blocked them by summoning a platinum shield.

Despite having won all of his matches against Adam and Roman, the red eyed king found from them the Aura and Dust to be quite hazardous to his body. So, he exchanged the shield move as much as possible while countering with swords, axes, and everything in between. The exchange of attacks went on for nearly two minutes, until Iskandar decided this was not the time to counter."

"As always, thanks for your help, Lancelot," He said while his body brightened with a powerful light that transformed into an armor. With it, he managed to take all of Gilgamesh's weapons and sent them against him, but the Grimm managed to, incredulously with the utmost speed, summon another portal to reabsorb his weapons.

He then watched the protection Iskandar was wearing. Gilgamesh had known it very well. It was after all one of the few counters to his Gates of Babylon.

"That's the armor of Berserker! How did you get it?" He demanded, tapping back with caution. In answer, Iskander released his armor and smirked.

"Simple, he offered it to me as his leader at Beacon. Same for Jeanne with her flames," He replied before assuming his guarded position.

"Your semblance...it allows you to borrow the power of those who follow you, right?" Gilgamesh finally realized.

"Exactly. I discovered it just after entering the Academy.".A flashback entered his mind of the first time he had used that power: Siegfried had been stealing some of his fries, and he had responded with a flame covered fist.

"Hmmph. Usually, I would call you a poser but, given that it only works on your followers, it's probably the only tax you take from them," The other answered, more arrogant than before.

"I'd prefer to say we keep fighting together to protect what we have built over the years but enough talking!" The general concluded, rushing at his opponent again, taking out another sword for close and ranged combat. The two fought for several seconds in a continuous storm of sparks.

Iskandar hit hard and fast from the less defensible point, occasionally alternating his sword with other guns or knives that appeared mid-air. Gilgamesh was just as fast, if not faster, but his technique was unusual. The King of Heroes was far from unskilled, but it seemed he was inexperienced with the weapons and Iskander had taken any advantage he could from it.

Especially since Jeanne's flames kept diffusing the intense pain from the Grimm, even with the armor to protect him.

"This technique...it's probably at the Queen's level (she's referring to Arturia). No, you surpassed her." He said, taking an axe and channeling his aura for a powerful slash. The shining energy of the attack destroyed more than half of the floor but Iskandar was fast enough to dodge with a jump to the left, only getting a little cut on the cheek.

It was probably a sign he shouldn't have put all of his Aura into the offensive but, given the power of his opponent using the defense function of his spiritual energy was nearly useless, it was a well-calculated risk.

"Hmmph. An attack worthy of you. If our positions were different, I'd already be dead." He remarked before being surrounded by dozens of Gates. He could only activate, again, the Knight of Honor to take as many weapons as he could before jumping onto a wall and threw them against the enemy servent, who once again reabsorbed them in his portals.

"Right. I'm still experimenting with this treasure (he refers to his Aura as another treasure) the witch gave Me. Useful yet disgusting. Sadly, I didn't receive your version." He simply said before starting another attack, which Iskandar answered by summoning a bazooka that he channeled Jeanne's flames into. The result was a storm of flames as white as a cloud that clashed against Gilgamesh's barrage in a constant rising of shockwaves that caused cracks in the building. The quarter itself was trembling with people running away in the hopes of surviving what they believed to be an earthquake.

"Im...impressive," Iskandar said, channeling even more power into his weapons. Both contenders were holding back immensely to not destroy that portion of Vale, yet he still had no words for the power Gilgamesh possessed.

"Your determination is incredible, King of Conquerors, but, without your soldiers, there is no hope against Me," Gilgamesh affirmed arrogantly while forming even more portals, forcing Iskandar to dodge and counter at speeds as crazy as the other man's. He then summoned even more weapons, covered in the elements, that defended him with no problems against the desperate barrage of the commander.

Seeing no other option, Iskandar started to form his Aura in a more solid form and, at the same time, threw his strongest shot of flames so far that it clashed with Gilgamesh's last projectile, a bright sword that created an enormous explosion.

The whole building was reduced to rubble, only leaving the containers intact. For several seconds, only silence reigned supreme until Gilgamesh got up from the pieces and looked at the battlefield with nothing but grief in his eyes. He felt exactly like the remains in front of him with no sense of victory. He wanted an all out battle with the Conqueror, with both fighting for themselves, not that little fight when someone else controlled him!

"Problems, Gilgamesh?" A voice suddenly called and the Grimm barely turned in time to block an enormous fist set to crush him. Looking with his visage trembling with fatigue, he saw Iskandar encased in a dragon made of pure energy. The warrior was fairly wounded but, overall, safe.

"Siegfried's semblance, right?" He asked, remembering who else was in the Conqueror's army while channeling as much Aura as he could muster in his arms to combat against that powerful paw. Iskandar was limited to nod and augment the hell of a strength from his draconic avatar.

"I feel you're still holding back, King of Heroes, and I'm not referring only to raw power. What else did the Queen of the Grimm give you?"

"She's not their true sovereign, and it's something I hate to use but, if you insist…" Under the Conqueror's horrified eyes, Gilgamesh's arms suddenly enlarged and broke his armor, pushing everything away from the dragon's paw while his visage became more and more feral.

Finally free, the servant launched himself against the combat avatar, destroying it on contact and immediately grabbing Iskandar to launch him against another building, crack the walls.

"Ah, I knew you were still holding back. I admit defeat. Do what you must, Gilgamesh," The red haired warrior said in his usual jovial tone with no trace of grief or hate. On his own, the corrupted king gave him the most respectful look he could before rising a clawed hand for the final blow.

"Know that I'm very sorry, Iskandar. I wanted a true battle worthy of us, not this...kid's fight. I hope we can remedy it in the next Holy Grail War."

"Forgive me, your majesty, but, if I let this happen, there won't be another Holy Grail War," Another voice said to interrupt Gilgamesh. When she and Iskandar turned around, they found Vlad in combat assed, Valacchia ready to attack and a full armor covered in spikes reinforced with earth Dust.

"Ah, the King of Valacchia. I've read the book based on those rumors, but I expect reality to be very much superior," Gilgamesh sardonically said, hoping to enrage the faunus which, regardless, maintained his cold blood.

"Normally, I would immediately attack you but years on Remnant have mitigated my character. Now, if you'll allow me…" With a speed even greater than what Iskandar had showed minutes earlier, Vlad rushed in front of the King of Heroes and attacked him with slashes that were nearly invisible, obliging him to a continuous dodging.

After nearly a minute, he returned his arms to normal and summoned new portals to blast Vlad out of existence. On his own, the General of Menagerie could have simply used an elemental attack to counter but, with Iskandar so wounded, he couldn't risk it. So, he activates his semblance to create a pillar of stone under himself.

His jumped on his new creation, which curved up again and again to avoid Gilgamesh's barrage in ways almost impossible to imagine. When the moment was right, he shot several bullets at the King's feet, forming miniscule Dust glyphs.

"Is this your best aim?" The dark warrior asked, highly disappointed.

"Absolutely!" Vlad answered, clenching his fists. Before Gilgamesh could notice, spikes of concrete powered by so many types of Dust rising from the earth enveloped him like tentacles in a painful embrace.

"W...what?" He exclaimed while the spikes went under his armor, perforating his skin and burning more wounds under the salt, thanks to Vlad's aura.

"Forgive my trickery, Lord Gilgamesh, but we can't take half-assed measures with you. Now, I'll take you to some place where they can cure you...as long as you allow it," The bat faunus respectfully said to him before helping Iskandar onto his feet. He doubted that could be able to truly stop him for long enough to take him to Beacon, where Medea would fully analyze him, but there was still a chance. Gilgamesh smirked a little, but it did not match his true feelings.

"It's a tempting offer. Sadly, I've received orders to escape at all costs if you manage to capture Me." Under the generals' two eyes, a black Gate appeared around Gilgamesh and rapidly enclosed him before both disappeared.

"Did he escape?" Iskandar yelled in anger, just before he coughed up some blood.

"Yes...I hoped to finally discover something more about Salem's summoned servants, but we'll have to wait for another occasion. Now, hold on, my friend, the hospital isn't far."

* * *

"Sorry I'm so late, are you alright?" General Ironwood pushed into the hospital wing where all the fighters from the night were recovering, including some of his own soldiers. Joseph alerted him just after the man concluded the work to make sure the cargo returned to Atlas. Vlad was just behind the door, still in his armor to welcome him.

Luckily the hospital wing was much better than he could have hoped. Most fighters who had taken relatively small wounds and, thanks to Iskandar and Medea's interventions, everyone was still alive. It was a more than satisfying result.

"Eh, it could be worse. Don't worry. Tomorrow, we'll be ready to take hits again and knock back just as many," Iskandar commented while a nurse disinfected a wound with alcohol that smelled rather awful. Overall, the room's smell was far from pleasant but nothing the huntsman or soldiers were unused to.

"Right, but the first thing to do is send things back to Atlas. Are you done with the transport?" Vlad asked. James sighed in shame. He had hoped to take several troops and the latest prototypes to Vale, and it had ended up creating a mess. Glynda was right. He tended to make too many situations a moment to glorify Atlas' power.

"Oh, yes, before morning all the bullheads and airships, except mine, will return to Atlas with most of the soldiers and all the prototypes. This time, I will monitor the entire trip back. Only a small contingent of human soldiers and vehicles will remain. I should never have brought the prototypes here."

"How much have Roman's accomplices have stolen?" Ruby asked from near her teammates. Blake was the most serious of team RWBY, but rapidly improved once treated correclty.

"Of what we brought from Atlas? About a fourth, maybe a bit more. Thanks to you, anyway, we have taken back most of what they had taken but, with all the Dust they have, I fear what they could be able to do with the rest."

"So, the priority is now on finding their base?" Blake asked. Unlike her partner, the cat faunus was given a slightly mistrusting look from James. He was aware of her past in the White Fang and with Adam. He wasn't sure how much he could trust a former terrorist, especially given what methods she had probably used to get into Beacon. Still, Vlad and Ozpin were sure of her loyalty.

And he did not want to end up on Kali Belladonna's bad side. The woman was one of the kindest people James knew, but she was also one of the scariest when she became enraged.

"Yes, Miss Belladonna. We plan to start as soon as possible; a week at most, if Vlad and Iskandar still want me to return." He replied before turning around to his two colleagues. They had every right to be angry with him, but, yet, they smiled (or, at least, Iskandar did. Vlad was stoic as always).

"If Roman's plans - and whomever are behind them - are half as bad as we think they may be, we'll definitely need your help. Especially because, tonight, we've gotten confirmation of there being more than one humanoid grimm around," Vlad reassured him. Luckily, everyone in the room was already sworn to secrecy beyond the authorities, and there was no risk of information being leaked.

"And gods...this new one was absurdly powerful," Sun added, still nearly traumatized over his meeting with Gilgamesh. He clenched his fists and stomped them on his legs, swearing the next time that he wouldn't have to escape. For crying out loud, he was an assassin!

"Who's behind him?" James asked before Iskandar pointed a finger to Soichiro.

"We have confirmation that Roman is not the only one working with someone else. This someone else is the true apex of the organization, even above the White Fang. Dust robberies are happening all around Remnant, and this is well beyond Torchwick's ability. We need to figure out this commanding grimm hybrid, or whatever you want to call them," The snake faunus said. "Ah, and, apparently, they're even able to take on a human appearance."

 _Damn it Ozpin, forcing kids to your job_ , James thought, rubbing his forehead as he realized how great the danger upon them was. He then got up and cleared his throat.

"Soldiers, policemen, and students from any of the Academies you attend, I thank you once again for compensating for my...failings this month. I don't doubt that, during the festival, your help will be needed to protect all of Vale. Keep training, and watch out for all dangers. Regarding the youngest among you, I hope you'll remain available in case of emergency despite schoolwork. But, if you don't want to and want to spend the next few months in peace, I won't be the one to tell you otherwise."

"If my teammates agree, we'll definitely be around," Ruby answered while Weiss, Blake, and Yang immediately nodded.

"Team SSSN at your service," Sun put in.

"And, of course, we won't disappoint you," Souichirou affirmed again, rising up alongside his teammates, still in true Atlas fashion. James smiled in admiration.

"If we had half of your strength twenty years ago, we'd be living in peace," He said, then leaving the room, far more relaxed than he had been when he had entered. "Good night. Take care of yourselves."

He couldn't help but think about the past days, weeks, and months. He wanted to have things return to when they had been tumultuous, yet simpler and far more happy. When he and other students, including Vlad and Iskandar, had looked for the morning with nothing short of hope. They had wanted the world to be a better place, and then save everyone from the grimm and remain united. They had been disappointed by how everything had turned out, and they all had to endure the harsh reality. James only hoped that Ruby and her companions never fell into such misery.

* * *

The White Fang's refuge near Mountain Glenn was pretty busy yet silent place, with the group either training, controlling the plan, or checking their resources again and again, or preparing to handle the grimm they were bound to pass around without even trying. Until the leaders of that night appeared from the two portals - out of one of the portals stepped Neo, Roman and the lieutenant, while the other had those who had been tasked with stealing even more from Atlas, including Archer. When Roman saw the state Jack was in, he immediately motioned for her to take a seat.

"God, I was so worried!" He exclaimed, rushing over to his step daughter and taking her into his arms, followed by Neo, who gave the little assassin a kiss to the cheek.

"Sorry, dad," Jack said. "I didn't manage to take a thing."

"Don't worry Jack," Roman assured her, annoying the hell out of Emerald and Mercury. "I had my share of failures at your age. We'll get our revenge."

"Oh, some paternal Affection. What I wouldn't give for some of it," The grey-haired martial artist remarked in a dramatic tone before returning to the serious matters at hand. "So, how did the reunion go?"

"Bad," Roman answered in sheer irritation. "A bunch of faunus from the Menagerie army and a bunch of other rascals in training showed up. Everyone escaped like rats, which I Could understand if they were running from other rats, not a fucking predator!"

"And Gilgamesh?" Archer asked, curious about the fate of his fellow servant.

"The king was busy with the intruders, if everything goes okay…" The thief hadn't even finished speaking when a Gate appeared in the middle of the cavern, out of which a seriously wounded Gilgamesh emerged. shocking everyone. "What the hell…"

"What happened to you, My lord?" Emerald asked, hurrying although she stayed at a very careful distance, shocked that someone could be able to actually hurt Gilgamesh, especially to that extent.

"Vlad Drakul and Iskandar Scarlatina happened!" The King of Heroes angrily answered. The White Fang goons immediately offered him a chair, and he sat down with a drink he immediately tossed aside before pulling a glass of wine from one of his portals. "The Conqueror King is even more powerful than I thought. He managed to make Me expend all of my energy, and then Vlad appeared to take advantage of My momentary weakness, forcing me to have to escape! Disgusting!"

For a few seconds, no one spoke. The various accomplices weren't sure if he were talking about his opponents or about his forced retreat.

"The cargo?" Mercury asked, dreading the answer even if that part of the plan hadn't gone to hell, which it had.

"As cowardly as Vlad's tactics were, he was still incredible at cornering Me. I tought he could take what we had stolen from the Atlesian army as a reward," The corrupted Heroic Spirit answered, now more indifferent than angry to what Roman and the others had stolen.

"Your majesty, if I may ask, why don't you just use one of your strongest Noble Phantoms to destroy Vale's walls and get this over with?" The thief asked, trying not to let his superior know just how angry he actually was.

"Because our so-called Queen said Vale must be a symbol. We can't just reduce it to rubble; the other Kingdoms need to see how it will be destroyed before sharing the same fate," Archer explained. Despite acting like the professional he was, no one could deny the warrior was just as angry as Gilgamesh about the way they were recruited.

"Understood. Now, while I would gladly avoid that, Cinder must be informed," Roman said, pulling out his scroll. A life-size hologram of the woman appeared, in her pyjamas and in her room at Beacon. She was definitely pissed as it was, and this was about to make that worse.

"I'm guessing by your faces that things didn't go as planned," She said in tone so calm that it was almost seductive.

"Exactly," Roman said, lighting a cigar, knowing he would need it to continue the conversation without going mad (hopefully). "We counted on the cops' eternal coma, but, with Vlad's arrival, they woke up and were more annoying than ever. Add some Hunters with the diaper, Iskandar Scarlatina, and everything went to

hell."

"Damn it, Roman, I recruited you for a reason. I thought taking care of some soldiers and huntsman-in-training would be easy for you."

"They weren't just huntsmen and soldiers. They were a full team of battle hardened veterans, with probably entire troops of SWATS coming to the rescue. Not to mention the general of Menagerie himself. Gilgamesh was the only one who could take care of them.".

"And they were much more coordinated than we expected. Probably they suspected we would steal something else." Mercury added, hoping Cinder and Salem would calm a little.

"And, since Adam insisted on making his men stay here, we were inferior to their numbers even with grimm. Honestly, that guy is even more of a coward that his ex," Román continued. He could barely tolerate the bull faunus - another thing he and Gilgamesh agreed upon.

"Right, but he wasn't all wrong," Cinder replied in raw pragmatism. "And, until we manage to get new recruits, you have to keep the old ones safe."

"So, what's the plan?" Archer asked.

"First, and foremost, Neo must return to Beacon. We said she'd returned to Mistral for her mother's birthday, but that excuse won't last forever. Then...Emerald and Mercury…" She said, giving her two underlings a deceptively sweet smile. It was an expression the duo knew far too well, and it was never a good sign.

"Yes?"

"Our boss said if you failed that you would return to the Grimlands for additional training. You will depart with

a Griffon tomorrow."

The two shivered. Salem was an expert and powerful teacher, Cinder's power was a testament to her abilities into forging disciples. But saying his training was hellish was an absolute understatement. Even Mercury could barely subtain the few days he was under Salem's regiment, and all his life was made of test after test of the worst kind. He highly doubted they could manage to survive until the assault of Beacon.

"Are you afraid of the kind lady?" Jack asked. Why did she call Salem kind, if you're in doubt? To put it simply, she was the only servant that was corrupted without the Grimm queen having to beat her into a pulp of solid mana. She just had to treat gently Jack and have her take a little bath into the pools grimm were born from.

The fact Jack was also pretty much a corrupted Heroic spirit was no little help to the witch. She saw nothing bad into going a little further toward the path of darkness.

"Cinder, tell Lady Salme that we're ready for everything," Emerald said.

"Perfect. You Are dismissed. Roman…"

"Okay, Cinder, I know I've disappointed you."

"Disappointed isn't the right world. I've trusted you with the reins of this operation while I'm stuck at the Academy, since I'm aware how you arrived in your position, yet you can't do a thing. Now our weapons are barely sufficient and most on all the White Fang's ranks didn't grow at all."

"C'mon, it won't be the last reunion of this month."

"It will be instead. Next time they will be much more prepared to interrupt it. And you know that if one of our Servants gets killed, we would need at least a few months to replace it. Do you think Salem would be satisfied if she loses so much time?"

"Ah, I'm listening only to what I've done, to what Emerald and Mercury have done, but not to what you have done!" Roman yelled, having finally lost it with that wretched woman. It was a new sight even for Jack and Neo. Usually when doing business he was stoic as hell. It was a proof of how nerving that girl could be.

"Keep our disguise, training, discover as much possible on these brats, and keep your bank account full. That's what I'm doing and you better pray it remains like this. Now I'll call Adam to inform him of recent developments. We'll hear again of each other in next days." Cinder said before closing the communication.

Everyone returned to work or to sleep without further comment. Only Jack, Neo and Roman remained, who went to the two girls he considered as his daughters.

"Dad, is everything okay?"Jack asked highly worried. While working for Salem or Cinder wasn't a problem at all to her, she didn't want the only family she had in a long time to fall apart.

"For nothing, kiddo." He answered bitterly, taking some suitcase of dust he had already emptied. "We're gonna leave, as soon as possible. Make your lubbage. Not too heavy and not too light."

"Why?" The Assassin asked but it wasn't too hard to imagine, she realized. It was very doubtful Cinder or Salem would let them live. And Roman confirmed it by assuming the most serious expression she had ever seeing him doing.

"Because we must be at the same time very fast and well prepared. I don't know how, why and when, but we must escape from Vale before that half witch can put in act her blasted plan."

* * *

Hello to everyone, Sorry if I don't make myself alive by months, university has been very ectic, I must thanks semblance to fix my grammar mess in so little time. I wish the chapter satisfied you, this is a very action centered chapter and battles won't loose any importance in next sagas.

Naoto Oda: Thanks, dude, you made my day.

Starlord: Thanks as well for all your reviews, hoping you will return.

Kuroha: Thanks for your concern and your criticism. As I said, I'm not following the lore of volume 6 as much I liked it, here Salem isn't only stronger than her canon version, is on a complete different dimension when she resides in the Grimmlands. Yet her summoning spell is still quite flawed, that's why the Servants she summons are still relative weak, they're more a way to prepare the setting and gather data to improve new summons( trust me, at one point you're gonna see them more powerful than ever before). That's also one of the reason Gilgamesh was corrupted, the other was the entity behind the Grimm passed millennials studying the way to do so. But is not being an Alter, Gilgamesh still possess his mind, just his body doesn't answer him and is full of dark matter. Probably is just me that doesn't know exactly the difference with an Alter.

Good valentine to all of you and for those I follow good work.


	14. Chapter 14: Old friends

Chapter 14: Old friends

A week or two had passed since the investigation into Roman's nefarious activities. The dance was only getting closer, sending everyone who didn't already have a date into a frenzy. None of the members of Team RWBY, though, were worried about it and were focusing instead on their latest team project.

"Ready, Yang?" Ruby asked from the control room in the arena.

"I was born ready," Yang answered in sheer determination, knocking her fists together. Her fists were covered by what looked like an enlarged version of Ember Celica. Her shoulders and arms were covered in a golden protection, containing also a conduit for the Dust while she had a small bag on her back that contained all of the Dust her new weapon needed or the other parts, when they weren't in use.

They had decided, instead of designing a whole new weapon, it had made more sense to upgrade Yang's actual arsenal while still being separated to some extent.

"Impressive work, Miss Schnee," Glynda noted, watching Team RWBY and personally curious to see what the girls had managed to pull off.

- **"** Thank you, professor," The Schnee heiress answered. "Although we couldn't have pulled it off without Ruby and Blake."

"Yang, we're going to start with some regular Beowulf. Just punch it, for now," Ruby said from the control room. She then hit a button on the console and five Beowulfs made of hard light Dust appeared before the brawler, who was now on her guard.

The first holographic Grimm jumped on Yang, receiving a hit to the jaw and disappearing in a pixelated cloud that surprised her companions and Glynda. A shockwave also hit that could be felt all across the room.

" Better than what I expected…" Weiss breathed.  
Glynda watched the attack from the Beowulf critically, which was followed by several more on both sides. The Grimms moved in coordination and attacked with caution while Yang was on the defensive far more than usual, blocking the attacks with her giant gauntlets before punching back with her powerful, Dust enchanted fists.

"Miss Rose," Glynda said, turning to the girl controlling the fight. "You set those enemies to be thrice as strong as a normal Beowulf, right?"

"Yes," Ruby replied. "Do you want me to make them weaker?"

"No, increase their power and variety a little more," The professor ordered while Weiss reached for the microphone. "I want to see what else Miss Xiao Long has learned."

"Yang, you're wasting too much energy," Weiss advised over the system. "You have to focus all the Aura you can. If you do that, you'll be a lot stronger and last longer."

"Okay, Ice Queen," Yang joked before being surrounded by almost twenty Grimm of all shapes and sizes, although most of them were Ursas. Their expressions of hunger were almost identical to their counterparts in flesh and bones (or whatever the Grimm were made of) but Yang didn't look scared. She ran towards a Creep to kick it off before using her weapon to block a Beowulf's fang.

The poor mass of pixeles rapidly became a hard cloud of light Dust when Yang activated the Dust in her weapon with the result of a huge explosion. She then focused on the nearest Ursa, which tried to bite her again and again - forcing the brawler to keep blocking or dodge its attacks while, at the same time, diverting

attention to other enemies.

Once she had enough of that insistent monster, though, she focused a good chunk of energy into her fist and she hit the Ursa in the stomach, even creating a golden bright glyph with her blow. To say her teammates were surprised was a huge understatement.

"W...what?!" Ruby and Blake yelled incredulously.

"She can already manage to create a Dust Glyph?!" The even more incredulous Glynda exclaimed.

Dust Glyphs weren't something simple for basically anyone who wasn't a Schnee. Months of hard work and the utmost precision were required to use them and, some people (including the teacher who was watching their training) needed years before being able to use them in combat. The fact that Yang had managed to use them after barely a month of work was a testament to the work she had put in to reach that level of skill.

"I knew she was training harder than ever with the exercises in Aura manipulation I gave her," Weiss said in absolute wonder of her partner's progress. "But I hadn't thought she had already reached this level in less than two months?"

Although, while Yang's feat was nothing short of amazing, it was still something developed by a few days and the holographic Ursa rapidly managed to break it off before countering with its paws. Yang aws hit with enormous force and sent against the wall, where the remaining enemies surrounded her.

Of course, she wasn't in danger, being in a simulation, but the others couldn't help but worry. There was no need to, though, as Yang managed to free herself with a powerful punch covered in golden flames, followed by several other hits that sent a shockwave all across the room until all of the Grimm were destroyed.

"Damn," Glynda murmured, amazed by the explosion of power . "This is almost like her father's performance on the day of his final exam."

Altrough she was also reminded of someone else, not that she would say it outloud without the permission of Tai and Qrow.

"Yang!" Weiss called. "How are you?"

"N...not bad," Yang assured her, breathing heavily. "Just a little tired."

Ruby, meanwhile, started to push some more buttons.

"Okay, Yang, one last Grimm and we're done with the first test! But stay alert, this is going to be hard!"

"Go on, sis," Yang commented, not at all afraid of a challenge. "I can destroy anything you throw at me."

"Aren't you going too far, Ruby?" Blake asked, a little worried as she saw what her partner was programming.

"Oh, Yang does this all the time," She said. "This is just a little revenge."

In front of Yang appeared an enormous Goliath, an elephant Grimm that, in a pack, would have been more than capable of destroying entire cities. Unlike the previous copies, though, who surpassed their actual counterparts in the youngers tages, this enemy was far weaker than a true Goliath but, still, a good match for Yang and her new equipment.

With Ruby's order to attack, Yang was rapidly forced to dodge the attacks of the creature with its nose, countering whenever possible with several elemental attacks but she was becoming much more slow. The room's AI took advantage of this, with the Goliath attempting to swing her under its paw.

Yang managed to block it with another Dust Glyph, but the effort caused her to fall to her knees.

"Come on, Yang, remember what those Glyphs really are," Weiss pleaded, watching her partner gathering energy for her next attack. Using the strength provided by her semblance, Yang managed to push her opponent back with a powerful punch.

The now enraged creature tried to attack Yang again but her punches were hitting it again and again in the nose in a tremendous show of power. Finally, the brawler rolled under the enemy's belly and showed her last technique, fueled by the powerful level of energy her semblance had reached.

A storm of pure fire and heat powerful enough to melt metal completely obliterated the holographic Grimm, which disappeared in agony. The spectacle Team RWBY and Glynda saw was nothing short of incredible, even for the level Yang reached, but it also had implications that Ruby understood.

"Yang, we're done, get up here," She told her, her voice oddly serious. "We need to talk."

A few minutes later, Yang was in the control room with a towel around her sweating shoulders. Alongside her were several empty bottles of water while her new weapon was in a casket of ice that evaporated almost instantly.

"So, Ruby," Yang asked. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Even as a prototype, these weapons are amazing," The red-head rapidly explained, confusing her teammates with her next words. "They have so much power and relatively little energy to use and that's the reason we can't use them in rescue missions, when we have to take someone alive, or in the tournament."

"What? Why?" Yang and Weiss protested, feeling their work was being diminished which was ridiculous since Ruby and Blake had also worked on it.

"I already said it, that thing is too powerful and just a prototype," Ruby repeated, getting a small smile from Glynda. "It will definitely be useful in destroying Grimm in the field but if we were to fight in a village where the inhabitants needed to be rescued? Or if we had to get something with vital information and your hands slipped? We can't use it in friendly competition and, even if your Aura is still up, you can't manage to do another training session before tomorrow."

Glynda nodded.

"Excellent explanation, Miss Rose."

"Are you sure?" Blake pressed, even though she understood why.

"Yes, but we'll keep working on it," Ruby told her. "There are still several things we need to adjust."

"I'm sure it will work amazing," A new voice remarked, which turned out to be James Ironwood who politely greeted the girls before shaking hands with Glynda.

"General Ironwood, is everything okay with the remaining containers?" Weiss huffed.

"They're all retained in Atlas, although, now, I'd really like to talk with Jacques about safety measures. I asked him not to send more cargo for awhile, at least, without heightening the security and, of course, he didn't listen."

"Good luck with that," Blake said dryly. "With him as the SDC's CEO, Roman's reserves will double in no time."

"Another reason to find him as soon as possible," Ruby put in. "Any news on his hiding place?"

James shook his head.

"Days have passed searching the whole city. Vlad and Joseph think he left Vale once again, something I personally agree with. Iskandar is reuniting part of his army to search in Sanus' lawless zones. The only thing we're certain of is that it must be somewhere he could easily lead an attack from."

Everyone tensed at that, particularly Glynda although for different reasons than the girls. They were worried about a possible attack on the Kingdom and the consequences of that, but the professor was worried about them knowing too much.

"An...attack?" Ruby asked in sheer terror. "I knew things were going badly, but are you sure they want to attack Vale?"

"I'm afraid all the evidence points in that direction, Miss Rose" The general said.

"James," Glynda started warningly, then thinking better of it and correcting herself to the surprise of her students. "General."

"Glynda, they have to know," James tiredly replied. "They have a part in the investigative squad and, even if they didn't, it wouldn't be a bad idea for the students to be alert."

"That's true, professor," Weiss pointed out.  
The witch could only sigh.

"I know, and I'm proud of how you acted but, now, I need to speak with General Ironwood alone."  
Despite all of them wanting to protest, Team RWBY understood the order and quietly left.

"Glynda," James said once the girls were out of earshot, knowing full well what his former teammate want to do. "I'm probably a bit of a hypocrite, but you know you won't be able to protect them forever, don't you?"

"I'm completely aware of that," Glynda replied. "I learned that in the worst way years ago."

"Summer," James said sadly, remembering the loss of one of her dearest friends. Both hunters couldn't believe the day their colleague had been declared dead. She had been one of the best and an inspiration, but tragedy had struck as it always did.

"Yes," Glynda said, fighting back tears as she remembered her friend who left behind two wonderful girls and a broken family. "Gods...when she disappeared I'd prayed for months that everything was okay and yet…"

"I know," James said, hoping to console her. "But we can't change what happened, Glynda. All we can do now is to focus on guiding the new generations."

Glynda laughed dryly, something he hadn't heard in a long time.

"By guiding, do you mean recruit them into investigations against enemies that could easily kill them?"

"We weren't different," James reminded her. "They're huntresses in training, Glynda, and they were not alone. They had plenty of experienced people protecting them."

"Fair enough," Glynda admitted before sitting down across from her old friend. "What's your plan when you discover the refuge of the criminal empire?"

"Assuming they have no hostages and are from a civil zone, we could send in a huge attack. Of course, we'll have to take countermeasures against Gilgamesh...and those like him," James told her, unable to avoid the shiver the notion sent down his spine. A Grimm able to fight on par with some of the strongest Huntsmen in the world at full power as well as armed to the teeth was not something to take lightly.

And yet Iskandar talked about Gilgamesh with great respect, maybe even affection, not that the Conqueror was unable to be appreciative of people, whether for their fighting prowess or because he generally found their company enjoyable, but him showing such feeling to a Grimm was a huge hint to its power.

"But...if destroying their base isn't enough to stop their attack?" Glynda asked, struggling not to consider the worst possible scenario. "The are still several White Fang members and powerful Grimms all around the continent after all."

James couldn't help but sigh.

"In that case, we can only ensure Vale's defenses are at the best they could be and we'll make sure no one will get to Amber."

Glynda smiled.

"You know, I almost miss the snotty Atlesian kid that loved to order everyone around and was sometimes incredibly paranoid. Where did he go?"

James smiled back, remembering the greatest humiliation of his life that had also led to personal change.

"He got beaten nearly to death by Vlad in front of the world at the Vytal Festival," He remarked. "And every time someone else managed to be stronger than him, he gets a little closer to dying. He just understood that he isn't the only one who can make the right decision."

"Glad he got that," Glynda replied with a smile. "But, if I'm not wrong, he could also be quite brave and was willing to go to great lengths to protect the people he cared about with nothing to stop him...but at least that didn't change. Just put that aside...you in the mood for a spar?"

"Sure," Ironwood said, standing up beside her. "Same deal as always?"

"Of course," Glynda said sarcastically, going alongside him to the arena. "I hope you haven't gotten rusty."  
For the rest of the day, certain things could be set aside.

* * *

Hello, hoping you liked this chapter quite shorter than normal. To be honest, I'm not that great of a fan of Yang, so it's probably even less of an excuse to let her create Dust Glyphs, but I had once this idea about her fightning using weapons similars to the Gears from Megalo Box and it just struck. Also because she'll need a shittons of firepower to deal with later enemies. Chapter 15 isn't much longer than this, so hoping the situation about the coronavirus calms down a bit, it will arrive soon.

P.s. Forgot to write it. Thanks as always to my beta Semblanceofinvisibility for checking this, you're a great support and friend.


	15. Chapter 15

As they were for everyone who came there, the lands of Grimm were an absolute hell for those who inhabited them. It was not only because of the nauseating air (the lands were almost devoid of any life outside of the Grimm themselves) but because of the lands' Queen and her cruelty towards even her "normal" underlings. Two kids here could testify to that.

Salem had just finished her daily training with Emerald and Mercury, who we're now completely beaten down on the ground. Their instructor, regal as always with her terrifying beauty and overwhelming power, stood before them with obsidian sword blazing in her Aura of the same color.

"So...did we pass?" A badly wounded Emerald struggled to stand up, hoping that the trials were done for the day so she could go and rest although she wasn't even sure she'd be able to even make it into bed.

"Not...bad," Salem said, rotating her weapon in her hands. "Yes, not bad but there is still a lot of work to do. We'll start again tomorrow."

"I thought I was done with tortures when I killed my father, but I can barely feel my fingers," Mercury groaned, too tired to even sit up, he pretty much stopped breathing when Salem hit him on the back of the neck. His throat felt like it was full of burning blades. Hours after hours of fighting with the Grimm and Salem herself in physical and mental exercises( the latter to enlarge their Aura reserves) we're far more than even what the most elite huntsmen in training could take in a single day.

No wonder most cronies of the witch, despite some of them being recruited after a certain age, ended up becoming as monstrous as the Grimm.

"Tortures? Mercury, I thought you managed to endure all of this pretty well but you disappoint me. The real torture will start next week," Salem smirked almost maternally, something that made Mercury even paler than usual.

"Fuck."

"You're lucky trough," The Queen of Grimm said, her sword disappearing in a black flame as the three of them began towards her fortress. "I said we are finished for today. Go clean yourselves up and then I'll serve dinner. I hope this will manage to put you back into fighting shape."

The two thieves shared a knowing and almost longing look, their mouths watering. Salem's cooking was one of he few reasons they still put up with her brand of torture. If she weren't so set on destroying the world until only Grimm and her chosen were left, she could easily be the most famous chef in Remnant.

The trio rapidly entered their black fortress, where Salem rapidly turned to the kitchen, wearing a pink apron that heavily contrasted with her usual choices in colour, while the two kids went to the dinning room.

She started quickly working on the meals for all her subordinates, several kind of dishes studied to be as tasty, nutritious and healthy as possible, also helping herself work faster with some kind of tentacles that originated from her shoulders.

Her main focus, though, wasn't the food, but her latest enemies, which were turning to be even more annoying than Ozpin's little group. Watts sent her just a few moments ago a file about most of them. Her scroll started to display a long series of videos about the two groups of Huntsmen and the one hitman that managed to worry her so much.

Team IASL, Team DASK and King Hassan were her biggest problems at the moment. Everyone alone was an incredible warrior, but their biggest power was the change some of them brought into Remnant.

The leaders of both teams became of incredibly powerful armies, with most soldiers being much superior to those of Atlas, albeit still inferior in technology and raw number. With his copying semblance Iskandar was possibly the most dangerous Huntsman of Remnant, with his direct subordinates being just as annoying if properly cohordinated. Vlad instead was an absolute master in controlling the battlefield.

Jeanne Arc had perhaps the best defense in the world, further helped by her semblance which burned Grimm as nothing, though being very slow for an Huntress of her caliber. Her husband could destroy an army of Grimm with his three swords and his dragon avatar, other than displaying incredible resilience. Apparently, though, his raw skills could be easily surpassed by people like Tyrian.

Lancelot was definitly one of the best swordman she had ever seen, and the best Remnant actually had with his incredible speed and a tecnique that combined like no one before its nearly flawless elegance and sheer deadliness. His only weaknesses were his relative low Aura and his semblance having a kind of Berserk effect.

Medea was an amazing scientist, the main reason Huntsman became even more of an annoyance in the last thirty years, with her studies on Aura and Dust that let people create even better equipment and discover more about their inner powers. Plus certain voices, including Watts, seemed to talk about a certain experiment of hers that was going on for a lot of time.

Atlanta Nikos, cousin to the dear Lionheart and probably the closest person to him, was the main reason he became just as feared as Ironwood and Ozpin. He would never be that strong if not for having a family to protect. On her own, she was an incredible archer whose arrows never hit the target and in close range combat she was no less dangerous than her teammates and other allies; with them alongside her she was a force of terror for any Grimm. Luckyly, just like Lancelot she had some issues with stamina.

And finally him, the only man in Remnant that managed to be almost as feared as she was. King Hassan, the best assassin and founder of his own order. In all the years he has fought on Remnant nearly no one managed to defeat him or even find a weakness of that beast. It came to no surprise that he rapidly managed to ammass a pretty big group of follower that he could send everywhere he needed to destroye everyone who could and would interfer in the plans of his and his unofficial colleagues.

Sighing, the Grimm Queen raised all the plates, now full, with some telekinesis and went to the dinning room, where three men of different ages were waiting alongside Emerald and Mercury.

"Any news, my goddess? If it's necessary, I'm more than willing to cause more carnage," Tyrian was her most trusted assassain, and had quite the bloodlust. He was a scorpion faunus with black hair tied in a long ponytail. He had golden eyes and a slim yet muscular frame covered in white attire. His psychotic tendencies were second only to his unwavering loyalty (more like lover's worship) to the witch.

"Nothing new, Tyrian. I'm merely wondering how to free our mission from done annoying pests that are a little too powerful," The witch said, using her magic to lay out the food. "Did those students of King Hassan's not satisfy you?"

"Well, I'll be sure to find a way to counter them. Was the file enough?" Watts took a piece of his beef while he spoke. He was a dark skinned man with an impressive mustache and green eyes that showed certain glints of greed in them. He was dressed in clothes made of the finest Mistrali silk.

It was quite expensive, but the usefulness of the Atlesian scientist — long since disgraced by his own country — was worth it.

"Yes, of course," Salem answered, her magic setting a plate of meat before the biggest person in the room. "It was very detailed."

"Any news on Ozpin?" Hazel, the otherwise gentle giant of the group, asked. He had short hair and his dark green eyes hid an incredible wrath towards the headmaster of Beacon. Though rather coarse with his enemies, Ozpin in particular, Hazel's grudge against the Headmaster was quite useful to her when it was used correctly.

"Be patient, Hazel. Ozpin will be deposed when the time comes," Salem said with a sick smile devoid of empathy. She, after all, was a master of manipulating his grudge and every other emotions people could have.

"Alright. Our next plans?"

"I have strengthened our defenses around our refugees in Vale, but either way you and Tyrian must follow Cinder for the attack. Now, eat my dear colleagues. You do never know when it will be the time to eat in hell."

* * *

Having been informed that Roman Torchwick And his accomplices had, once again, left Vale, Iskandar immediately contacted his soldiers despite some of them wanting to relax for a few months after having spent so much time keeping their families and friends from being endangered by the criminal. The various soldiers organized themselves in groups scattered across all the zones of Saunus, checking villages and forests without rest.

Near Mountain Glenn, in an enormous forest, a fairly dynamic battle was taking place between a Jeep driven by some of Iskandar's soldiers and an enormous armadillo Grimm. It balled up and rolled itself at them, threatening to wipe them all out, and its battle cry was nothing short of unsettling.

"Sarge! Keep shooting at that thing! We can't keep up much longer!" Their lieutenant called out in fright. Their machine's ammunition was hitting the monster with a barrage of bullets sufficient for several packs of Ursas, but its armor was too thick to be pierced.

"It's too tough! I'm going to use the missile!" The bullet expert took a missile full of Dust, created to take down even the most resiliant Grimm, just like the one they had encountered. He tried to take aim, but the creature was running too fast to focus.

"Damn it! It's too damn fast!" The soldier yelled, struggling to take down the creature. The Armadillos were some of the strongest Grimm in terms of raw defense, but their strength didn't make them less fast and or immobile. The monster that was actually following these soldiers was so strong that not even the biggest tree slowed his run, instead being crushed under its armor.

He kept avoiding all of the shots fired, getting nearer and nearer to the Jeep, until an unexpected savior that had watched over the small batallion came out. A powerful Aura slash, sent by a misteryous figure beetween the trees, destroyed the terrain in front of the Grimm, stopping his run.

"Go, NOW!" The mysterious figure who interrupted the monster's rampage yelled. The sniper didn't waste any time and finally aimed, destroying the Grimm in a spectacle of color and fire. Then, three black figures jumped from the trees. They were completely covered by a black suit, an heavy mantle and skull masks which resembled several kinds of animals, but much more realistic of those used by the White Fang.

The Jeep stopped immediatly, with all soldiers yelling in absolute joy, before their sight was caught on their creepy saviors. The younger members, feeling a killing intent that would make Adam Taurus run in fear, taken their weapons, but Sarge and another veteran stopped them.

"Don't worry, kiddos, we and the Assassins have worked together for ages," The lieutenant assured them before going closer to the trio of hitmen. "Thanks for helping us, guys, are you also investigating this?"

The closest assassin watched for a second with Sarge's subordinates, and exchanged a look of some suspicion, but against all their feelings, he just went to Sarge and shaken his hands with great cordiality.

"Yes, and we discovered something quite interesting. Some old tunnels lie here but it's clear they've been abandoned for a long time." One of the men explained, taking his scroll and creating an holographic map. Sarge did the same.

"While we know this zone is prone to Grimm, it seems dangerous that the tunnels can go practically everywhere else within a thirty kilometer radius. There's a tunnel to Vale's capital, I take it?"

"Yes," The man answered, gesturing to a point on the map which showed a web of underground tunnels. "It was never destroyed and some Grimm seem to inhabit it."

"This means Roman and the White Fang are near," Another assassin observed. "Possibly right under us."

"We'll inform our general immediatly." Sarge said, pressing the contact for Iskandar, hoping he would answer as of.

* * *

Meanwhile, the training gym at Beacon was occupied by two very powerful Huntsmen. They were busy with their sparring, clashing again and again at full power, and trying to predict the other's next move, until one of the contestants received a call.

"Something new, Iskandar?" Peter Port asked almost immediately, barely tired from the sparring he and Iskandar were doing for some hours now. Iskandar looked at the scroll and smiled. He wasn't disappointed at all by one of his favorite students.

The old professor wasn't even bothered by the news of humanoid Grimms that Team RWBY and their companions has seen months ago, merely viewing it as a new challenge. He was thrilled to face them.

"Yes," Iskandar said with a happy smirk. "We may have some new hints about the White Fang's hiding place here in Vale."

"Wonderful!" Port declared, impatient to take on the humanoid Grimm. "It'll be one hell of a battle!"

"Ready for another round, my old teacher?" The Conqueror asked. "We must both be in our best form for the upcoming battle."

"Oh, you can be sure of it." The professor said, taking his trusted axe in hand and striding against Iskandar's sword, which was gladly answered with a punch.

The two Huntsmen begun their little fight again with even more passion than before, sure they could face everything Salem threw at them and win. They knew it in their bones.

* * *

Hello, sorry for being that late, but 2020 hit me like a fucking truck beetween a thing and the other. And ironically in the original version I made this chapter and the former so short to regain some time. The next one is already half translated, I wish you'll read it at June's beginning, meanwhile thanks as alwasy to Semblanceofinvisibility. Hoping you're safe, every polite comment and suggestions is apprecciated.


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